Sculpture made for girl, 9, after cancer all-clear

Joffrey Watson heard Dulcie had rung her treatment bell and wanted to do something for her

A nine-year-old girl who rang the "all-clear" bell earlier this year, after treatment for cancer, has had a sculpture carved specially for her to celebrate.

Dulcie, from Telford, was diagnosed with a stage four neuroblastoma in 2021 and underwent chemotherapy, surgery and two sets of clinical trials, and rang the bell in March at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

When local chainsaw sculptor and artist, Joffrey Watson, heard her story, he decided to make something special to go in her garden.

"I got a bit upset listening to it, so I was like, right, I'll ring in [to the BBC] because I can do something - I can do a carving," he said.

"She's a month younger than my daughter, it's that close an age it resonates with you more, doesn't it?

"That could've happened to me, that could've happened to my daughter, [Dulcie] deserves something."

Dulcie said bears were her spirit animal because they were brave

Surgeons removed a 1.2kg (2.6lb) mass from Dulcie in 2022.

However, it was found to have spread, and the family had to turn to clinical trials as chemotherapy was not able to reduce it.

Her mum, Debbie, said they got the happy news that there was "no evidence of disease" in mid-February.

"It's a day we never thought we were going to see," she said.

"She's missed so much of what she calls her normal life."

The sculpture is of a bear, inspired by one that appears in the children's book We're Going on a Bear Hunt.

'Her spirit animal is a bear'

"I was hoping that Dulcie would ask for a really nice birdhouse, a bath, a really nice bench," she told the BBC.

Debbie added: "She said that her spirit animal is a bear.

"A bear represents being brave and being fierce and being strong, even though sometimes you may not feel like it."

She said that Dulcie was still on a small treatment, which would continue into the new year, but added that 2026 would be a chance for her to be a "normal child".

Mr Watson created the sculpture within a few hours in Dulcie's garden with wood donated by the nearby Apley Estate.

"There is very little process, way less than anybody would ever hope for," he said.

"I'll turn up and the lump of wood is in front of me, I'll envisage it in my head and that's it, I just cut lumps off with the chainsaw until it's the right shape."