Marie Fellows
Published March 8, 2026 4:00pm
Updated March 8, 2026 6:06pm
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Our beloved daughter died of leukaemia (Picture: Marie Fellows)
‘Larissa’s still with us; but she’s not going to make it,’ said the doctor, gently.
It was August 2024. My husband, Dave, and I were in a hospital waiting room in New York – the doctor was talking about our 10-year-old daughter.
I threw myself to the floor and held on to the doctor’s ankles, imploring her for a second opinion.
But our beloved daughter died a few hours later.
It had all started a few days previously. We were on a holiday in the U.S. – Dave and I, our two teenage boys, and Larissa.
Larissa had been experiencing on-and-off sickness and headaches since we’d arrived for a few days on the West Coast.
But a doctor concluded it was either hormonal, or a combination of the heat and different time zones.
We then flew to New York for a ten-day return Caribbean cruise with friends.
We had no idea that the next time we saw New York, we’d be out of our minds with terror.
She fell to the floor; we scooped her up and sprinted to the medical centre (Picture: Marie Fellows)
We had a great time – but then at a beach club, the day before we would head back to New York, Larissa said she felt ‘a bit funny’.
She wanted to stay, though, and laid on a sunbed.
When she got up, she said, ‘I feel really weird. My legs are achy.’ Dave had to carry her back to the boat.
That night, I woke up to Larissa kicking me in the back.
Her eyes were glazed, she kept saying, ‘You’re a duck! You’re a duck!’. I woke Dave, panicked, as Larissa started singing Peppa Pig at the top of her voice.
She tried to walk, but it was like she was drunk. She fell to the floor; we scooped her up and sprinted to the medical centre.
It all started with Larissa experiencing on-and-off sickness and headaches (Picture: Marie Fellows)
They took blood tests, gave her something to calm her down, and she fell asleep.
When she came round, she didn’t seem delirious any more. She asked me to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Then she asked for her brothers and told them she loved them. Lying with her head on my lap, she said next, ‘I love you, Dad’. To me: ‘But I love you more, Mum’.
Then, suddenly, her head flew back, her eyes rolled, and she wet herself. She was having a seizure. I screamed for help. Doctors came rushing in; I was taken out of the room, hysterical.
I remember seeing the doctors taking a defibrillator into the room. Dave watched the doctors bring her back.
In hindsight, we should have let her go then.
Every inch of her was covered in tubes and devices (Picture: Marie Fellows)
The doctors said they thought Larissa had a brain tumour and that they urgently had to get her to land. The decision was made to speed up the boat and arrive in New York early.
Larissa was in a medically-induced coma, on a ventilator and covered in tubes. Her blood pressure and oxygen levels kept dropping.
At last, we arrived in New York at about 3:00am. Dave and I went with Larissa as she was taken straight into an ambulance.
As we pulled up to the hospital, 20 or 30 doctors rushed out. It was amazing. I sent a message to friends and family, saying: ‘They’re going to save my little girl.’
Learn more about leukaemia
Leukaemia is the most common type of childhood cancer, accounting for around a third of all cancers in under 15s.
More information can be found at Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) – Leukaemia UK
They took her for a CT scan, but it wasn’t long after that that the doctor came in and told us there was nothing they could do.
They took us up to see her – but it was horrific. We couldn’t even see Larissa. Every inch of her was covered in tubes and devices.
‘Get it all off her,’ I screamed. ‘I don’t want it on her! Get it all off her!’.
They agreed to the second opinion I’d begged for, running neurological tests; but about an hour later, the doctors told us they could either do another 72 hours of testing, or we could make the decision to have Larissa’s ventilators turned off.
We made the decision, as a family, to turn Larissa’s life support machines off (Picture: Marie Fellows)
They said the early signs were that Larissa would never walk or talk again. At best, they said, she may be able to move her eyes.
Dave and I looked at one another helplessly. ‘She wouldn’t want that,’ I said.
But we knew our sons had to be a part of the decision.
Once we’d explained everything, unanimously, the boys said: ‘We’ve got to let her go.’
So we made the decision, as a family, to turn Larissa’s life support machines off. We sat by Larissa’s bed, held hands, played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and I sang.
Then the doctors turned the machines off – Larissa died almost instantly. The only comfort was that it proved that there was no chance.
Dave and I took it in turns to hold things together in the months after Larissa’s death; our sons too (Picture: Marie Fellows)
While Larissa’s death has now been explained as leukaemia, it wasn’t for weeks. I’m so grateful to the charity SUDC UK (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood) for their support in those early weeks following Larissa’s death, when we had to deal with so much bureaucracy.
We left that hospital still not knowing what had happened; it wasn’t until October that we got a call from the medical examiner who’d conducted the post-mortem in America.
It was charity work that saved us – specifically, The Larissa Foundation.
Three months after her death, I had a dream where I ran into a hospital with Larissa, shouting, ‘Quick, she’s got leukaemia!’. She tapped me on the arm and said, ‘It’s too late for me, Mum, but you can help save others’.
When I woke up, I knew what I had to do.
Learn more about The Larissa Foundation
The Larissa Foundation raises awareness and funds for a number of different charities in support of bereavement services, children’s hospitals and wards, leukaemia and blood cancer support, research and awareness.
Find out more: https://www.larissa-foundation.org.uk/
I set up The Larissa Foundation, to provide support for other families and raise awareness for charities.
The months after Larissa’s death were a haze of grief. I couldn’t function for a long time. Dave was a power of strength. Then, just as I started to feel a bit stronger, Dave started to really struggle. It was like we took it in turns to hold things together; our sons too.
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Our work through the foundation helped give us something positive to channel our grief into. I gain strength from knowing that, through our foundation, we’re keeping her memory alive as well as helping others.
Because I don’t ever want people to stop saying Larissa’s name.
These days, we’re doing better, but life is still incredibly hard. I want to continue to grow the foundation and make sure my little girl will always be remembered as the joyful person she was.
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