LOSING a child is the most heartbreaking experience any parent could ever go through.

It is a tragic and deeply personal experience, but one mother is sharing her story of loss in order to help others.

Seven years ago Ruby Stinson died in her mother’s arms.

Ruby was just three when she was diagnosed with an inoperable glioma brain tumour. She endured radiotherapy and chemotherapy but lost her battle less than two years later.

For the first time, her mum Joanne is telling Ruby’s story in full.

The 41-year-old is working with Brain Tumour Research to highlight the fact that brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the devastating disease.

She said: “The hospice staff helped to lift Ruby onto my knee as she took her final breaths. To be so close for that last moment was so precious. She looked so peaceful lying in my arms and I just sat there for a long while.

“While it is seven years since we lost Ruby on April 7, 2009, in many ways it still seems like yesterday.

“If I’m perfectly honest with myself I realise it is only recently that I have started grieving for my little girl. It is hard to explain my loss, but it feels as if I have a large wall of water behind me; it is tall and stormy and every now and then a few drops of water fall down.”

The family, which includes father Rex and little sister Amber, from Bury, were living in Oldham when Ruby was born in June 2003, and her younger sister Amber was born two years later.

Joanne described her as a ‘proper little girl’ who loved her pair of shiny red shoes.

In January 2007 she noticed her daughter was tripping and stumbling a little, but put it down to the wedge on the sole of the shoe.

Around the same time, her nursery reported Ruby having problems with her right arm and limping.

The family saw a paediatrician, who suggested irritable hip syndrome, before a niggling doubt led them to Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital.

After seeing a series of doctors and undergoing numerous tests, a CT scan revealed the worst.

Joanne explains: “As she was showing a weakness down one side of her body, I began to think that maybe Ruby had suffered a stroke. Appalling though that was, I reconciled myself with the fact that she would have rehabilitation and everything would be OK. As soon as I saw the scan, I knew things were bad. I could see the mass deep inside the middle of the brain and knew immediately that its location meant it was inoperable. It seemed like madness; to the outside world Ruby looked happy and healthy, yet this was far from the case. She was immediately put on a very high dose of steroids and, for the first time, she screamed in pain.”

Ruby was transferred to Pendlebury Children’s Hospital where an MRI scan revealed the tumour was inoperable and Rex and Joanne’s daughter had a 20 per cent chance of surviving.

She underwent six weeks of radiotherapy and took steroid medication and put on a lot of weight as a result. The first scan post-treatment brought news the tumour had shrunk more than the doctors had expected and Ruby started back part-time at St Peter’s C of E Primary School in Bury. Sadly, another scan in 2008 revealed the tumour was growing once more.

Inbetween it all Joanne discovered she was pregnant again. She said: “Ruby was so, so excited especially when we told her she was going to have a baby brother. Jack was born in December and the girls, Ruby in particular, were quickly smitten with him. Ruby loved to kiss and cuddle him and wanted to hold him all the time. Despite being so little herself, she was really gentle with him.” In January Ruby’s condition deteriorated and she was put on oral chemotherapy and painkillers.

She continued to go to school but as it became increasingly clear that Ruby was approaching the end of her life, the family moved her to Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley. Here the family could be together before she died.

Joanne is now campaigning to raise awareness of brain tumours and, along with Brain Tumour Research, lobbying the government and larger cancer charities to see the national spend increased to £30m - £35m a year, in line with other cancers such as breast and leukaemia. She has spoken out to promote Brain Tumour Awareness Month and is urging people to take part in the UK-wide fundraising event, Wear A Hat Day on March 31.