'We watched our daughter die, we couldn't do anything'

Emma Giles' five-year-old daughter Eva died of a rare and aggressive form of brain tumour

Two bereaved Kent families have supported an "ambitious" clinical trial, which aims to improve the treatment of child cancers.

Emma Giles, whose five-year-old daughter Eva died of a rare and aggressive form of brain tumour, said she would "help fund the vital research until we physically can't fundraise anymore".

After Eva's diagnosis of a diffuse midline glioma in 2016, Ms Giles said the family "was thrust into a world we could scarcely imagine."

"We had to watch our small, scared little girl endure the daily ordeal of having her head bolted to a table while radiotherapy waves penetrated her head, all in the hope of buying us more time," she said.

"But it was only time – we were told we would be 'lucky' to get months with her. There was no cure.

"We were going to lose our beautiful five-year-old daughter, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it," Ms Giles said.

Ms Giles later set up Eva's Angels, which donated £791,000 to the trial, together with the charities The Albie Sugden Foundation, Shay's Smiles and Joss Searchlight.

The trial will test drug combinations on different genetic characteristics of childhood brain cancers in newly diagnosed patients aged between one and 25.

Information it collects will help researchers understand why some patients respond to certain treatments and others do not.

Sarah and Ben Pullen's son Silas died when he was 11

Sarah and Ben Pullen, from Faversham in Kent, set up The Silas Pullen Fund in memory of their son who died from a high grade glioma, a type of brain tumour, aged 11 - just 16 months after his diagnosis.

They raised more than £1m for the Brain Tumour Charity, which has also backed the trial.

"There remain very few treatments for paediatric brain tumours," said Ms Pullen.

"We hope that, ultimately, every child diagnosed with a high-grade brain tumour in the UK will be able to benefit... offering their families much-needed hope."

Life expectancy for childhood brain cancers like diffuse midline glioma is between nine and 12 months, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.

The trial is being coordinated by Cancer Research UK.