Iyla Johal, a bright and bubbly five-year-old from Milton Keynes, has raised over £10,000 to thank the Oxford Children’s Hospital for her specialist cancer care.

She was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma at the end of 2024, aged four, after a lump was found on her cheek. The rare soft tissue cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.

The diagnosis rocked the family to the core, but they made a decision to treat the entire treatment as “a big long adventure”.

Iyla received the majority of her treatment at the Oxford Children’s Hospital, based in the John Radcliffe in Oxford, and has also had Proton beam therapy treatment in London and supportive care closer to home in Milton Keynes.

She and the family were greatly supported by the Solid Tumour Specialist Nurses funded by Oxford Hospitals Charity, and say the year of treatment would have been “unthinkably hard” without their guidance, kindness and expertise.

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This January - after 14 months of grueling treatment, Iyla ‘rang the bell’ on Kamran’s Ward in the Oxford Children’s Hospital to celebrate the end of her treatment.

Here, the family share their personal experiences from the past year, and explain why they supported Oxford Hospitals Charity, to help more young patients at the Oxford Children's Hospital.

Iyla's mum, Sevy, told us: “Nothing can prepare a four-year-old for what lies ahead when they are diagnosed with cancer. The constant hospital visits and overnight stays, the medicine that drains, both physically and mentally and the lingering unknown of why and how so many doctors are coming to see you at any one moment, with the fear of what are they coming to do.

“Through these extremely difficult circumstances, Iyla has been forced to grow up fast and learn to be brave, courageous and resilient just to get through treatments, whilst knowing that there is more to come down the line.

"She has been incredible, and we are so thrilled that she’s still the same little girl now that she was before cancer entered our world."

“Ringing the bell this week has been a great big step for us  – it marks the end of nine rounds of chemotherapy, six weeks of Proton beam therapy, over 40 general anaesthetics and multiple MRI’s and CT scans.

“And Iyla is still a really happy kid, who mucks around with her brothers, loves anything silly and just keeps smiling.

"We worked really hard as a family to make sure we didn’t lose that side of her personality. We homeschooled her brothers, so we could all be together and keep smiling, laughing and having as much fun as possible; sometimes tag-teaming to make her laugh when she was having a rough day. But on some days she was the one trying her hardest to cheer us up!

"It was a real team effort and we are so, so proud of her."

“One of the things that really helped us during her care in Oxford was the Solid Tumour Nurse Specialists that are funded by Oxford Hospitals Charity. Helen and Izzy are wonderful.

"Helen and Izzy are wonderful. Izzy was assigned to Iyla because of where we live, and she formed such a bond with our daughter and was an incredible support for the whole family.

“We really don’t know how we would have coped without their expertise, guidance and coordination. When you enter the world of childhood cancer it is so confusing, you are thrust into the unknown.

“There are so many different hospitals, departments and clinicians – with multiple appointments for scanning, monitoring and treatment. But we have had our hands held all the way through thanks to Izzy and Helen. They really helped us navigate this difficult year. They’re invaluable – I don’t know how we would have got through it all without them to be honest.

“So when we realised their roles are funded by Oxford Hospitals Charity we decided we’d like to do something meaningful to say thank you.

The family decided to do this through a readathon.

Sevy explains. “We’d go to the hospital book trolley to find the silliest books we could to keep Iyla laughing. 

"Knowing that hospitals would, for now, be a second home, laughter was really the only medicine that we knew would make those stays as comfortable as possible for Iyla.

“Iyla really learned to love stories and her reading improved massively over the year of treatment. So much so that at the end of last year she decided to read Jacqueline Wilson’s book, Sleepover.

"So we created a fundraising page and encouraged friends and their local community to donate to Iyla’s readathon.

Iyla's dad Gurj told us: “Anyone who knows Iyla knows she is always up for challenging herself! She missed almost all of her first year of school due to her treatment, but still ended up with a reading age way beyond her five years.  So we are incredibly proud of her drive and determination to read this book, around 20,000 words long, in four hours over the course of one week!”

Iyla’s readathon raised an incredible £10,599, which will be used by Oxford Hospitals Charity to help other children in hospital.

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Working around Iyla's treatment schedules, the family decided to do everything together throughout the year.

Dad, Gurj, explains: “We have all accompanied her to all appointments and treatment sessions. Even during the six weeks in London when she had Proton beam therapy.

"We made sure that once she woke up from her treatment, we ate lunch and then headed straight out, even if I had to carry her on my shoulders for most of the day. I had shoulders like Arnie by the time we were finished in London!

"Iyla finds the joy in everything and really lives in the moment as young children do. In a situation like this you are also forced to do the same when you have no idea what the future will look like." 

Between treatments they visited most of the London museums and galleries, watched Mathilda at the theatre, went to London Zoo, Tower Bridge and even did a Beatles Tour of London.

Gurj remembers: "When Iyla started to lose her hair on Christmas Day, 2024, me and the boys also shaved our heads, so she wasn’t alone.

And when she had to go without food before treatment, we all did the same, and as a family we all changed our diet to be as healthy as possible - we found this really helped Iyla, reducing sickness and her loss of appetite."

"We also focused on building hobbies. Having now finished treatment, it is really a blessing to see some of those hobbies still in place and thriving.

"We all read much more than we used to and still read together, we all took up drawing and the kids' passion for music took off and they now perform regularly in the Milton Keynes Jam nights for local performers.

"None of this would have happened were we not forced into this horrible situation. Good things came out of it for us.

"We have also met some of the nicest, kindest and bravest people we have ever met who have found themselves in similar situations, (and much worse), who have gone on to make their mission to help those suddenly plunged into this situation."

The whole team at Oxford Hospitals Charity would like to share their thanks with Iyla and her family. It has been such a privilege to get to know them and we have all felt inspired by their kind fundraising for our charity.

You can also support the Oxford Children's Hospital by making a donation today.