Every parent seeing their child go to prom is watching a major milestone.
It's kind of like a rehearsal for their wedding day, in some mum's minds at least. But it's a wedding day that mum Tessa and her daughter Eden Lewis are unlikely ever to see, as 16-year-old Eden has just months to live.
So getting ready for her prom was especially packed with emotion for Eden's family. She has been determined to make special memories with them and friends, WalesOnline reports.
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She has always dreamed of working with animals, and top of her list of of careers is being a police dog handler. So, when Gwent Police heard that the terminally ill teen wanted a special way to get to her high school prom, they were more than happy to help. Off-duty officers from Caerphilly central neighbourhood policing team and road policing and specialist operations units answered the call from local charity Dreams & Wishes to make sure that the brave teen got to the Islwyn High School event at the Bryn Meadows Hotel & Spa in style.
For Tessa, it was a bittersweet moment as she watched her beautiful daughter get ready and be driven away in a friend's green Mustang, surrounded by the police escort. "It was so hard because I was thinking we should be repeating the getting ready on her wedding day," said Tessa, from Oakdale, near Caerphilly.
"I realised this was the only chance she was going to get to dress up and be the princess that she so deserves to be, so we wanted to make it special. A friend answered our call to take photographs. I wanted to make sure I wasn't distracted by having to take pictures, and I wanted to be in the moment with my beautiful daughter. I did tell Eden just before about the police escort because otherwise it would have been too much for her to take in. She has always, always wanted to work with animals and be a police dog handler.
"When she got her cancer diagnosis, she knew that she will not be able to do it, but the officers brought along one of the police dogs and she was able to handle it, so that is another thing she has done."
Eden's determination to get to her prom, shows the spirit she has displayed since being diagnosed with cancer just over two years ago. She even had some rainbow beads attached to a purple ribbon tied into her prom dress. The beads symbolised the children on Rainbow Ward at Noah's Ark Children's Hospital in Cardiff, who lost their battle with cancer and will never go to prom, so as her mum describes: "Eden took them with her to her prom"
When doctors broke the devastating news earlier this year that she only had months to live, the schoolgirl responded by revising trigonometry for her maths GCSE. And just days later she sat as many of the exams as she could.
"Each of these events gives Eden something to strive towards," explains Tessa. "Eden wanted to do what GCSE exams she could. She really enjoys Spanish, fashion and textiles, and was determined to do well in the sciences, English and maths because she wants to start an animal care course at Usk College in September.
"The staff there have been so helpful and telling her what she needs to do, and ensuring she will be able to go. It is these things that keep us all going. We are just trying to keep things as normal as possible."
Eden first complained of having a pain in her knee two months after the start of lockdown, in May, 2020.
"We thought it was just growing pains to start with and because of lockdown, she was not as active as she had been," explained Tessa. "She was having a lot of pain so we spoke to the GP who agreed that they thought it might be growing pains but booked an X-ray to put our minds at ease that is wasn't anything sinister."
Then, on a date Tessa remembers clearly for all the wrong reasons - June 4, 2020 - a doctor called to say that they had found an aggressive growth. Further scans at an orthopaedic hospital that specialises in the care of children under the age of 16, confirmed the worst.
"It was very surreal," said Tessa. "I can remember thinking that this doctor had to tell a parent this about their child, but it didn't really hit me that it was my daughter, my Eden, that they were talking about.
"My husband had just left for work, and I was heavily pregnant with our youngest child, and I had to work it out in my own head before I broke the news to Eden. I had to call my husband who had just got through the door at work, and he turned around and came straight home and then I had to phone my parents and tell them."
Eden was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, and had to have a 13cm tumour removed from her right thigh. She also had to have two operations to remove active cancers from her lungs.
Four days after her daughter started chemotherapy at Noah's Ark Hospital in Cardiff, Tessa gave birth to her youngest daughter. "Eden was going through chemo and I couldn't be with her," said Tessa. "It got worse because my baby was diagnosed with meningitis at two weeks old, so I was in hospital with my sick daughter, while my other very sick daughter was having treatment in another hospital.
"Thankfully, my mum was amazing and stayed with Eden. People asked me how I coped, but I just had to get up and do it. I don't think I am coping, I am just getting on with what I have to do. My children needed me and I just had to do what I could, but it was very hard and made harder by coronavirus.
"When normally you would have had people coming and going to help, all they could do was stand on the doorstep. We couldn't risk touching anyone, so we it was just our little bubble, but the community have been absolutely amazing.
"We have had so much support, and so many people helped to make her prom experience so amazing. She had a great time. We had arranged that she would leave a bit early because she is normally in bed by 8pm, but she said that it was perfect. There were no crowds of people as she left, and that is how she wanted to do it.
“Eden is absolutely speechless still about the police escort, she was blown away. She’s so thankful for the officers escorting her to prom and making a nerve-wracking journey fun and exciting. I’m so thankful to the officers for taking time out of their day to help escort Eden to prom, and also for taking time beforehand talking to Eden and her brother and sister, showing them the vehicles and dogs.
“They made an emotional moment so much more special.”
Gwent Police said: "One of Eden's wishes was to be escorted to her prom in a police convoy, and so when we were asked if we could help our officers were more than happy to help bring her wish to life.
Inspector Matthew Havard said: "We were honoured when Dreams and Wishes asked us to be a part of making Eden's wish come true, and were glad we could help make this special occasion memorable for Eden and her family."
Tony Curtis MBE, who is chairman and founder of Dreams & Wishes, which is dedicated to helping seriously ill children by making their wishes come true. said: “A huge thank you to Gwent Police to help fulfil the dreams of a young girl, without them this wouldn’t have been possible.”
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