THE mum of seven-year-old girl cancer battler Madison Allan has been told she too has been struck down by the disease.

Samantha Allan, 36, said she found a lump on the front of her left thigh just weeks after the funeral of her daughter Madison.

But the defiant customer services adviser of Lord’s Crescent, Lower Darwen, said she was determined to fight the illness.

Maddi died on Boxing Day after her courageous six-year fight against a rare childhood cancer. Her struggle captured the hearts of thousands across East Lancashire.

Samantha said: “I’ve got too much going on in my life to be beaten by this. I’ve got my work, my husband, daughter Scarlett, and I’ve got to get this charity in Madison’s memory going.

“As much as I miss Maddi, this is not my time to go.

“These are the cards that I’ve been dealt and I’ve got to get on with it positively.”

Samantha, who is married to Mark and has a three-year-old daughter Scarlett, first noticed something was wrong when she sat at home on the sofa following Madison’s death on Boxing Day from Neuroblastoma.

She said: “When Maddi passed, I spent a lot of time at home drinking tea with my legs curled under me.

“I noticed that my left leg started feeling achy, then the pain got worse and I ended up limping.

“I went to the doctor and he found a lump at the bottom of the thigh.

“I was in so much pain that I could hardly walk. Then one night after having a bath, the pain stopped and the lump went away, only for it to return at the top of my thigh. The doctors can’t explain it.

“I had a biopsy on Wednesday and the consultant said that there was a lot of activity in the tumour. They seem to think it’s a sarcoma, but I’ll find out for sure next Friday.”

Sarcoma cancers affect the soft tissue and are rare, with about 3,000 people a year in the UK diagnosed.

They can occur in muscle, fat, blood vessels or in any of the other tissues that support, surround and protect the organs of the body.

Most sarcomas are not caused by an inherited faulty gene, but development of some may be linked to exposure to some types of chemicals.

Surgery is important in the treatment of most sarcomas.

Samantha added: “Sometimes I think that God is trying to break me.

“He didn’t break me when Madison died, so he’s trying again, but I won’t let that happen.”

Madison was diagnosed with an aggressive ‘spaghetti-like’ tumour in her stomach at 10 months old.

Samantha was the driving force behind a campaign for NHS treatment for her daughter and also a fundraising campaign to pay for groundbreaking treatment in Germany.

Since Maddi’s death, Samantha and her family have worked to set up the charity, Maddi’s Butterflies, to help and advise other children with cancer and their parents.

They have recently helped their first patient, a scottish girl called Olivia who was treated alongside Madison in Germany, who wanted a Play Station Vita.