“We just want to give Evie her special day when she can be a princess and forget about cancer and be a normal 11-year-old”

The mother of an 11-year-old girl battling incurable cancer has thanked the Wearside community for rallying around to help give Evie her own prom night, including Washington based business Tonia Ann Bridal Wear donating a prom dress worth hundreds of pounds.

Evie Owens, 11, in one of her potential prom dresses. | Iconic

placeholder image — Evie Owens, 11, in one of her potential prom dresses. | Iconic

Year 7 pupil Evie Owens was diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue childhood cancer, in June 2024.

Evie has bravely battled the disease for two-and-a-half years, undergoing four bouts of chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy.

In September, Evie, from Washington, began her latest round of chemotherapy, which doctors have said is realistically her last treatment option.

Evie got to choose from an array of prom dresses worth hundreds of pounds. | Frank Reid

In a bid to “make memories with my friends and family”, Evie set up a wish list, including experiencing her own prom night.

Evie’s mum Tara Owens said: “Evie won’t get to experience her Year 11 prom, and so we want to make sure she still gets her own prom night.”

Since Evie’s story was published, the family has been inundated with offers of help, including from Tonia and Ann Bridal and Prom shop in Washington, where Evie spent Thursday (September 24) choosing a prom dress she wanted to keep from the hundreds of gowns.

Evie said: “This is a massive offer and I’m really grateful. I’m excited to wear my new dress at my prom night.”

Evie Owens, 11, in her prom dress with mum Tara Owens (right) and Donna Caldwell from Tonia Ann Bridal & Prom. | Frank Reid

The company’s owner contacted Tara after hearing of Evie’s situation, and Washington branch manager Donna Caldwell was on hand to help Evie try on the dresses.

Donna said: “We all have daughters which is why Evie’s situation is so heart-wrenching and hit us hard. Dawn, the owner, said to contact Evie’s family and let her come and choose whatever dress she wants, no matter what the cost. We just want to help give her the best prom night possible.

“Once she has chosen her dress, Tracey’s Alterations in Seaham have offered to do the fitting free.”

Tara has been contacted by businesses from across Wearside, including a photographer, caterer and cake provider, DJ, florist, and dancers.

The only thing left to sort, is a venue.

Tara said: “We’ve had lots of generous people come forward and are really grateful. We’re still looking for a venue and car, but the venue in particular is becoming quite important as we don’t know how long it will be before Evie’s treatment starts to fail and we want to get this prom sorted as soon as possible.

“Evie is very excited and we just want to give her a special day when she can be a princess, forget about cancer and be a normal 11-year-old.”

An individual who asked not to be named has also come forward to offer to pay for Evie and her family to go to Disneyland Paris which was also on her wish-list.

Tara said: “We need everything to come together to enable Evie to go and raise additional money to cover the £2,500 for travel insurance. On Sunday September 27 at 10.30am, I was joined by staff from Castle Kindergarten for a dip in the North Sea to help raise money.”

You can donate to supporting Evie’s wish list coming true via her GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/evie-stronger-than-the-storm. Anyone who can help with providing a venue should contact Tara via the family’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eviescancerjourney/.