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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASAChris Capstick was told last year that he had only 10 months to live
A six-year-old girl has written a children’s book to help families explain cancer to young children after her dad was given just 10 months to live following a terminal diagnosis.
Isabella Capstick, created Daddy’s Little Monsters with her mum Lauren after her dad Chris was told his cancer had returned and he had terminal stage four melanoma.
The book does not use the word 'cancer' and instead tells the story of 'little monsters', to help kids understand why a parent may become ill, need hospital treatment or be too tired to play.
Chris, 41, who previously lived in Manchester’s Northern Quarter before moving to the Wirral, was first diagnosed with melanoma, skin cancer in 2023, after doctors initially believed it to be a cyst.
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He underwent 13 months of gruelling treatment, including having lymph nodes removed from his right arm, before doctors gave him the all-clear.
After being six months cancer free, the disease returned last year. Scans revealed there to be six tumours in his body and a further six in his brain, leading to a terminal diagnosis in August and doctors telling him he had just 10 months to live.
Chris and his wife were then faced with the difficult task of explaining his illness to their three daughters Mila, 10, Isabella, six and Nylah, two.
He said: “We really struggled on how to explain it to the children and it was causing quite a lot of upset in the house with me going in and out of the hospital.
"Isabella in particular was having emotional issues and me and my wife spoke about it and we were like 'we can’t be the only ones that have this problem, what can we do?'
"She’s always been big into stories and we have always been reading bedtime stories, so my wife decided to sit down with her and explain it to her and see if she wanted to create a story and that’s where Daddy’s Little Monsters came from."
Chris said his wife and Isabella spent six months writing and illustrating the book together, with the project becoming a way for his daughter to process what was happening.
He said: "She seemed to find it therapeutic for herself. She doesn’t understand what the word cancer means. The book doesn’t say cancer anywhere in it.
"She just thinks daddy has got these little monsters inside of him and we are trying to get rid of them and that’s what the book is about.
"It explains that sometimes daddy is going to be tired, might need to go to hospital and explains it in a child-friendly format."
Published around three weeks ago, the book has already sold almost 300 copies and received 32 five star reviews from readers.
Chris, who featured in the Manchester Evening News when he was selling his prize collection of signed football shirts to pay for a family holiday to Disney World, said the response showed there was a need for more support for children dealing with a parent’s illness.
"We are trying to get it into as many places where parents with cancer can pick it up and read," he said.
The family are now seeking funding and have launched a GoFundMe page to help them produce more copies of their book, allowing them to donate them to those who need them most. They have already donated to charities that support people with cancer and their families, including Maggie's and hope the funds raised will enable them to reach more people with their story.
Debbie de Jonge, cancer support specialist at Maggie’s, Wirral, said: "Isabella and her family have faced a hugely challenging time, but working on the book together has been a cathartic process which has helped them come to terms with Chris’ diagnosis as a family.
"I know it is a source of happiness for them to think of the book helping other young children like Isabella and the book is a wonderful resource for us to have in our centre where we support families living with cancer every day.
"For 30 years Maggie’s has been supporting people facing a cancer diagnosis across the UK, as well as their family and friends, and I would urge anyone in need of support to just come in to one of our centres."
Away from his own cancer journey, Chris has spent over 20 years working as a youth and community worker and currently works for the Teenage Cancer Trust, travelling across the north supporting hospitals and staff who work with young people affected by cancer.
He said seeing Isabella turn a difficult experience into something positive has given him a lasting legacy.
"We are proud. She’s taken me and given me a legacy that’s going to live on," he said. "Even if this is my last dance, I get to live on in a story that my child has written and I don’t think there are many dads out there that can say that."
The book has become a regular part of family life, with Isabella reading it with her sisters three or four times a week.
Chris said: "It's a place to escape, for Isabella it grounds her. She sees me one day helping her push a bike and then the next day I’m in bed all day and I can’t move, so I think it must be really confusing for her, so she just goes back to the book."
Isabella has also signed copies of the book for her sisters as well as some students in a book signing set up by her school.
Her efforts were recognised when she received a Girlguiding Award through her Rainbows group, becoming only the third person to receive the honour in the area, for making an outstanding contribution to the community.
The family now hope the book can reach more children and parents facing the same difficult conversations that inspired Isabella to write it.
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