Parents touched by Peterborough school’s memorial to daughter

The mother of a 12-year-old girl who died of a rare cancer says she has been “touched” by a memorial created by her schoolfriends.

Poppi Frisby, from Peterborough, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, in 2022 and died in February 2024.

She went to the city’s Jack Hunt School, where friends have created a display of clay poppies in a remembrance garden.

Her classmates described Poppi as kind and funny with “a heart of gold” and said they were pleased the school had suggested the memorial.

One of the pupils said “there was always a good vibe when she was in the room”.

Her parents, Ian and Sam, both described Poppi as a “bubbly character”, adding that her diagnosis had been “devastating”.

“Seeing her friends helps us too,” Sam said, adding that the memorial had made them “emotional”.

Sam said Poppi’s treatment had been “unbelievably hard”, but they had tried to “build memories” as a family.

“She went through it all smiling and making people laugh.”

Poppi was treated at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and spent the last three weeks of her life at a hospice run by East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices in Milton, Cambridgeshire.

Ian and Sam praised the hospice where “they took such care of us and Poppi”,

But they said there should be more support for families grieving such a loss. They urged others to “take a day as it comes”.

“You just hold on to memories and try and stay strong as a family,” Ian said.