A brave young girl battling Stage 4 cancer will fulfil her dream as she walks on stage at Crufts with her beloved dog Echo this weekend.
Eight-year-old Freya Harris was given the Australian shepherd puppy by her parents last year to encourage her to go for walks after gruelling treatment for her rare kidney cancer.
She has been in hospital for weeks at a time, causing her muscles to shorten – but her best friend Echo has helped her through her ordeal.
Freya said: “Echo is amazing. If I’m having a bad day, she’ll snuggle up on the sofa with me. If I go and play out, she’ll go play with me. It depends on my mood, that’s her mood. She is everything you could think of for a dog.”
Freya, from Horncastle, Lincs, was diagnosed in 2021 with Wilms’ tumour, a form of kidney cancer that affects around one in 80 children in the UK a year.
She has had a kidney removed and endured lung surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy in her battle against the disease.
Her love of dogs began at an early age when she would help mum Gemma, who then worked as a dog walker. The pair would always watch Crufts on TV together and it has been Freya’s dream to join the contest with Echo.
And she passed her qualification event in Boston just hours after leaving hospital following a life-threatening reaction to chemotherapy.
Gemma said: “She was buzzing to get in the ring and it wasn’t until after the show finished that we told her she’d qualified for Crufts. She was screaming and jumping with joy, nearly crying with how excited she was.”
Whatever the outcome, Freya and Echo will revel in being surrounded by thousands of dogs and dog lovers at the Birmingham NEC.
Gemma said: “It’s all about the participation. It doesn’t matter if you win – it is just about trying. Echo’s just clicked with Freya. Bad days, she’s there. Good days, she’s there. She’s never fussed with her tubes or anything, she understands what’s out of bounds.”
- Crufts, run by The Kennel Club, is on from today to Sunday at the NEC Birmingham and is airing on Channel 4 and More4. Visit crufts.org.uk
