An inspirational schoolgirl is raising awareness for the need for organ donations and calls her "hero" the woman who "saved her life" by giving her a liver transplant.
Emelie Austin, now 12, from Cheadle Hulme, was diagnosed with the rare hepatoblastoma cancer when aged two and she had to have an operation to remove some of the tumour at Leeds Children's Hospital, in 2012.
Then after having chemotherapy her parents Becky and Dave Austin were told that she would need a liver transplant, reported LeedsLive.
Becky, 35, said: "Emilie didn’t appear unwell until a week before she was diagnosed. Her tumour just appeared one day and doctors think it had been hidden behind her rib cage. People need to be aware that children do get cancer.
"Quite often you hear about false calls where the organ just isn’t suitable enough. Dave was a better match than me but both of us would’ve jumped at the chance to help her, when it’s your child you would swap places with them in a heartbeat."
Emelie was put on a waiting list for a transplant and her dad Dave was also preparing himself to try and be donor when the family were told a match had been found.
"We were so lucky", mum Becky said and the transplant has changed her daughter's life.
"She had the surgery before undergoing further chemotherapy to ensure the cancer had gone out of her body. She has now been in remission for around nine years."
Previously speaking to Manchester Evening News, Becky added: "She is just incredible, she has a really good understanding of why she needed the kidney and where it’s come from. For her school homework once she had to write about her hero, and she wrote about ‘the lady who saved my life’. Every time she makes a wish it’s to make poorly children better."
Since she has been on a mission to raise awareness of the need for transplants and she is taking part now in her eighth British Transplant Games this week.
The event, which has been running now for 40 years, is organised on behalf of Transplant Sport and it encourages transplant recipients to lead active lifestyles while also showing appreciation for their donors and their families. When Emelie was six, she was crowned a sporting champion at the games.
As Leeds is where she spent much of toddler years being treated by the Children's Hospital Team, Emelie represents the city in the games - which is hosting the event this year.
Over 2,000 people are travelling to Leeds from Thursday (July 28) until Sunday (July 31), to compete in the game taking on everything from table tennis, obstacle courses, and archery.
Emilie told BBC Look North: "I am on the Leeds team and this year the British Transplant Games is in Leeds and this is where I had my transplant so I am really happy to go. I enjoy going because I can be around people who understand what I have been through in life."
Deputy CEO at Leeds Teaching Hospitals said: "We've got over 600 people waiting for a transplant in Leeds and that's why the games are so important for us to raise awareness."
