Family pays tribute to brave Shannon

May 1 2008 by Kerry-Lynne Doyle, Glamorgan Gazette

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl lost her battle against a rare cancer on her brother’s second birthday.

Shannon Lang, of Glanffornwg, Wildmill, died last Friday, 11 months after doctors diagnosed a Wilms’ tumour, a rare kidney cancer which develops in the womb.

Following her diagnosis, the Gazette ran an appeal to send Shannon on her first-ever holiday to Disneyland.

Porthcawl companies Portfolio Property Investment and Cymru Solutions offered to send Shannon and her family to Florida, where she could also swim with dolphins.

But the four-year-old was too ill to make the trip.

She died in the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff on Friday, her brother Robert’s second birthday.

“She never asked for anything” said Shannon’s mother, Nicola Lang.

“She was good throughout the treatment. She was a right character and she loved playing football on the green.

“I want to say thank you to people who helped.”

Nicola was told Shannon did not have much time left by doctors at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital in February.

Tests revealed the cancer had spread to Shannon’s other kidney and lungs.

The family agreed to a final course of chemotherapy, but sadly the treatment did not work.

The four-year-old refused to wear a wig throughout her treatment.

“She never let anything get to her,” said Shannon’s grandfather, Phil Fishwick.

“She was really clever, she had a great personality and she was really quite funny.

“All the staff in the hospitals loved her. She was a lovely little girl.”

Her grandmother Tracy Fishwick added: “She was so brave, full of a sense of humour.”

Shannon loved football and music, especially Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend.

She enjoyed visiting Bridgend town centre with her family and reading magazines.

She will be buried in a pink coffin – her favourite colour – with her beloved toys.

Her godmother Anita Langdon said the family is grateful to everyone who supported Shannon’s appeal.

“She wasn’t well enough to go to Disneyland,” she said.

“People’s generosity was amazing. It’s people who didn’t know her, either.”

Shannon’s funeral will be held tomorrow (Friday) at 1.45pm at Coychurch Crematorium.

Mourners are asked to wear pink. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the University Hospital of Wales’ Sky ward through Rosemount Funeral Home.