A TEENAGER who bravely fought and beat cancer has raised more than £2,000 for the hospital ward that she credits for helping save her life.

In 2018, Michaela Marsh, from Maiden Newton, was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma - a rare form of bone cancer - when she was just 15.

After 11 months of treatment and care, she has now recovered and has worked to raise money for the children’s ward that helped her through the tough times.

Now 17, she and her family have raised £2,280 for Kingfisher Ward at Dorset County Hospital which supported her when she caught infections following her cycles of chemotherapy.

Michaela said: “It’s an amazing team. I couldn’t have asked for better staff. They were amazing to me and amazing for my family, and supported us through it. It’s lovely to be able to give back to them. They saved my life on multiple occasions.”

She had a cancerous tumour on one of her ribs, and as part of the treatment she had surgery to have three ribs removed. On the day before her surgery, she hosted a coffee morning in her hometown of Maiden Newton to raise money for the ward.

Other members of her family helped out too - her grandmother held her own charity coffee morning to help out with the fundraiser, and the Chalk and Cheese Friendly Skittles League in Maiden Newton also donated.

Michaela’s mother Tracy said: “Throughout this intense treatment Michaela showed unbelievable strength and resilience - after every cycle of chemotherapy, which took place at Southampton General Hospital, she was admitted to the Kingfisher Ward at Dorset County Hospital with an infection which left her extremely poorly, the doctors and nurses saved her life on more than one occasion - they were absolutely amazing.

“Michaela has been through a lot - infections, fevers, reactions to medication, long inpatient stays, missing her GCSE year at school and her friends - when she was in treatment she felt awful but her positivity persisted throughout it all - her consultant once said “you are like a bouncy ball, you just keep bouncing back”. Today her scans are clear and she has 3 monthly checks. We are so proud of Michaela, she truly is an inspirational young lady.”

Michaela does not intend to stop here with her fundraising - she is currently planning a charity bingo event to be held in May.