Uttoxeter Rugby Club raises £16k to support toddler after leukaemia diagnosis

Two-year-old Marley has started a six month course of intensive chemotherapy

A rugby club has raised more than £16,000 to support a couple after their two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Marley was rushed to A&E by her parents after she was unable to walk and doctors detected the blood cancer.

Parents Charley and Callum, from Uttoxeter, have taken time off work while the toddler gets chemotherapy.

"It is every parent's worst nightmare. Your heart just shatters," her mother said.

Her Staffordshire parents noticed Marley was limping in December and a week later "she was in agony" and refused to walk.

After being taken to Derby's emergency department, doctors found her white blood cell count was low and further tests revealed she had leukaemia.

"My whole world came crumbling down in that moment," mother Charley said, "when the doctor said he wanted to see both of us, me and my partner knew something was wrong."

"He did not even have to finish his sentence before we knew it was cancer and we just broke down. It just broke our hearts."

Marley's father Callum plays for Uttoxeter Rugby Club which has been fundraising for them

Marley has lost her hair after starting six months of intensive chemotherapy which is set be followed by two years of less intensive treatment.

"It has physically and mentally taken its toll on her," her father said. "She will not walk. Everything she loved, she will not do now so that is the hardest bit for us really."

The town's rugby club, which Callum plays for, launched the fundraiser to give them financial support.

The couple said they can't believe the kindness of strangers to donate to help them

"What everybody has put in, they did not have to do it, so I just feel thank you is not enough but that is all I can say," Callum said.