Emma Sutherland, the teenage Scottish author whose inspirational book has helped children deal with their parents’ cancer diagnoses today was presented with an award set up in memory of Princess Diana, live on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Emma beat off youngsters from across the country to scoop the Diana Award in the active campaigner category for her debut book Eek! My Mummy Has Breast Cancer.
The book is Emma’s personal story about coming to terms with her mother Rosie’s illness and the Midlothian schoolgirl received the prestigious award from TV presenter Charlotte Hawkins who told her: “I happen to have your award which we can present to you live on television, well done and a big congratulations to you.
Ben Shepherd added: “Well done, it’s absolutely sensational. These awards are in honour of Princess Diana and are for young people who have done extraordinary things”
A delighted Emma said: “I didn’t know that I had been nominated for the Diana award. It was John McAuley from FACE Fighting Against Cancer Edinburgh who nominated me and I only found out when I was told that I had won.
“When I looked for information online on what is breast cancer there was nothing that I could understand and that just didn’t seem tight to me. It was either ‘Mummy’s Lump’ about cancer cells being bad cows and not cancer cells being good cows and I needed something that I could relate to because I felt so isolated because I needed to know that I wasn’t the only one going through it.
“We are trying to make the book more available to people who need it.
Mother Rosie who accompanied Emma to the studio said: “I’m very proud. She’s turned a negative into an absolute positive and she’s helping others and throughout this whole journey, Emma has never said ‘what’s in it for me?’ she has just battled on. She has written one book and wants to right more to help others. It’s just incredible.”
Photo of Emma and Santa during the FACE Lapland trip 2013
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
