1stAngel & Friends

Bryntyrion Comprehensive pupil Chloe died from a very rare cancer called desmoplastic round cell sarcoma, said her father Paul Bigmore.

The diagnosis was confirmed last February and the cancer, which normally affects male adolescents, quickly spread to the teenager’s internal organs.

Doctors treating Chloe at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff told her parents there was nothing that could be done.

Ballet dancer

Mr Bigmore said: “It was devastating news.

“Chloe was amazing. We never told her the real story. We thought she was too young.

“It’s not the sort of thing you want to share with your 13-year-old daughter.

Chloe was “full of life”, a ballet dancer, who also had achieved her Grade 5 in piano and who loved singing and the theatre, he remembered.

He said she fought the illness right to the end, putting up with her chemotherapy and running in the Race for Life in Cardiff last summer.

After her death the family, which includes Chloe’s brother and sister Luke, 24, and Laura, 23, decided to set up a memorial trust.

Already a keen runner, Mr Bigmore took part in this year’s London Marathon to raise funds for the trust and his wife is going to take part in the Great North Run before tackling the London run next year.

Looking on the internet the couple found the website of another teenager called Rob who died aged 15 a few months before Chloe of the same form of rare cancer.

“Rob had decided to raise £100,000 to fund research into the disease and he had already raised £50,000.

“We’ve been in touch with Rob’s family and we have decided to pool our resources and the money will go to fund a researcher at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London for three years.”

With the running and a shopping morning in Laleston, the Bigmores have already raised almost £3,000 for their daughter’s trust, and Sunday’s hymn singing will boost that figure.

Reverend Edward Evans, who has organised the sponsored singathon, said he hoped up to 100 people would attend.

“Being a small village, news of Chloe’s illness got round and people have been very supportive,” he said.

Next on the fundraising agenda for the Bigmores is a tandem parachute jump around the time of Chloe’s birthday in July.

Mr Bigmore said: “We thought we don’t want to be at home then. We’ll do something stupid.”