A struggling father has turned down a £200,000 a year job to spend "as much time as possible" with his daughters who are fighting life-threatening illnesses.
Matt Shaw, 39, gave up his job as a financial analyst and knocked back a position with a £200,000 salary in London, claiming that "I don't know how long I have with them".
The Durham dad-of-two with his wife Tracy, 33, have already had to watch their first daughter Sophia, five, beat a brain tumour, The Mirror reports.
However, the couple were dealt a heartbreaking double blow when the cancer returned in Sophia's spine and then their second child, Delilah, was born with hyperinsulinism.
The condition means that three-month-old Delilah has higher than normal insulin levels in her blood and has to be fed every three hours or she could become fatally weak.
Hyperinsulinism is estimated to effect around one in 30,000 babies in the UK, but Matt claims doctors have told him the chances of these two illnesses hitting his daughters at the same time are "billions to one".
He said: "I asked the doctor what are the chances of this happening, you know the cancer coming back but in a different part of Sophia's body and then Delilah being diagnosed with this condition.
"He shook his head and said 'it's billions to one', he said 'I can't put a number on it', one of these things happening is rare enough in itself.
"The whole thing has been absolutely exhausting and devastating but I've told myself that I'm done being sad, I have to try and stay positive for the girls and believe that we will get through this.
"Before this I was flying high in my career and during the pandemic I was offered a job down in London which would have paid around £200,000 but I just couldn't take it.
"The one positive of this whole process is that it has taught me how precious time is with my family, and being brutally honest I don't know how much time I have left with them..
"You can't put a price on the memories you make with your children."
The family have been plagued by hospital visits since their return from a camping trip in Wales in August 2020, when Sophia started complaining of a headache.
The couple initially thought the youngster had fallen from her camping bed during the trip but only weeks later, scans revealed a tumour the size of a golf ball in the tot's cerebellum.
Sophia, then just three years old, underwent a successful operation to have the tumour removed and the family were feeling positive again when her scans returned clear in September 2021.
But just four weeks after the good news, doctors called Sophia back claiming that they had spotted something suspicious on her spine.
The cancer had returned and the family were given the heartbreaking news that it was incurable and "only a matter of time".
Refusing to accept this the couple launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for a variety of treatments to attack the cancer head on.
Matt added: "We want to try and keep life as normal as possible for Sophia so we don't let on too much about what is happening and we have to be brave ourselves.
"The doctors say that there is nothing they can do for Sophia this time but we refuse to accept that the cancer will win this battle."
The pair claim they have already had success with holistic bio-resonance therapy which uses electromagnetic waves to manipulate cells and high doses of Vitamin C which Sophia receives intravenously every week.
But the family need £125,000 to sustain this and fly to Spain or Holland to undergo dendritic cell therapy which mimics the body's own immune system by releasing cells into the body trained to attack the cancer cells.
Matt said: "The thought of living in this world without either of my little girls is just not an option.
"We will do everything in our power to see both of them grow up and start families of their own."
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