Christian Williams was enjoying success with his horses including Kitty’s Light but at the same time his family from south Wales was dealing with the devastating news of five-year-old Betsy’s illness
A five-year-old daughter of a top racehorse trainer was taken to the doctor with a “nasty” ear infection and her health continued to worsen before the family was told she had leukaemia.
Christian Williams won the Scottish Grand National and the bet365 Gold Cup, two of jump racing’s most prestigious prizes, with the horse Kitty’s Light in the spring of 2023. But at the same time his family from south Wales was dealing with devastating news that five-year-old Betsy had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer.
It began with an ear infection said Christian’s partner Charlotte. “It was the first one she [Betsy] ever had and it was quite nasty. I remember taking her to the GP about it because I was a little bit worried that there might be something wrong with her hearing afterwards, but she was given the all clear,” she said.
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Betsy didn’t bounce back, though, and instead began to have fevers and tiredness. “She was coming home from school and lying on the sofa with her iPad. That was different – she’s always been so playful, dancing all the time,” Charlotte told WalesOnline.
She then began having pains, first in her ankle, then her arms and stomach, while at night she would wake up crying. More red flags followed: night sweats that drenched her sheets, food aversions, and a slow but noticeable weight loss.
“Because I had a bit of a medical background, I started to panic,” said physiotherapist Charlotte. “We made several GP visits and were told it was probably viral. I absolutely don’t blame the GP – leukaemia is so hard to diagnose. It can look like so many other things. But something in me knew what it was.”
She decided to take Betsy to A&E, where staff suspected a food allergy. “I was just so frustrated because I knew it wasn’t,” Charlotte recalled. “I remember leaving there, crying, feeling this absolute desperation.”
The next morning, she called the GP surgery again and was seen straight away. “Our doctor was lovely and said that I didn’t really need to worry about anything. I just said: ‘I know you think I am being a pedantic mum, but I think she’s got leukaemia.’ She was sent for every test under the sun, every blood test – and within a few hours, they called me to come back.”
Despite preparing herself mentally, Charlotte admitted that the news was still a shock to the system. According to the NHS, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, and is most common in children and young people. The illness is rapid and needs to be treated straight away.
As Charlotte received the heart-wrenching news, Christian was at Cheltenham that day with horses running. “I told him he had to go. Running this business, we have a lot of people relying on us – 16 staff members, 50 horses, not to mention all the horse owners,” she said.
“Before I went to the hospital, I remember Chris saying that everything would be fine, that she’d have the blood tests and it’d all be done and dusted. I had to wait for him to come home to tell him we were in hospital and she’d been diagnosed. It was awful. The longest day of my life.”
The family’s world narrowed overnight, with Betsy’s treatment beginning almost immediately at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Cardiff. Over the next 27 months, she would go through blood transfusions, bone marrow biopsies, lumbar punctures, and punishing cycles of chemotherapy. There were steroids, side-effects, setbacks. It was a full-time battle.
For Charlotte and Christian, it also meant juggling time with the training yard. “We’d gone from running this business to being in a hospital every day,” Charlotte said. “Those first six months, we were there more than we weren’t. We were lucky to have such a supportive network of people behind us – the staff were incredible, and Christian’s brother really stepped up.”
The family were also able to enjoy the racing and Betsy was well enough to attend the Grand National to watch Kitty’s Light compete in the flesh. Another source of light was the charity Dreams and Wishes, which dedicated itself to putting smiles on faces by making unforgettable dreams come true for seriously ill children and their families.
The organisation stepped in early on, organising special events and days out – from Christmas in London to a trip this summer to West Midlands Safari Park. “It gave us something normal to look forward to,” Charlotte said. “Something fun, even during the heavy weeks with chemo. It really helped.”
It also gave them lasting friendships with other families from the Rainbow Ward, bonded by a shared experience no-one chooses. “We’ve got a lovely little group of friends now. Through Dreams and Wishes, we go to events together, we make memories together – not just ones where we are sat next to each other on the ward.”
That shared journey made Betsy’s final day of treatment all the more emotional. In July, 2025, she rang the end-of-treatment bell at Noah’s Ark.
“The bell is right there on the ward,” Charlotte said. “You walk past it every time you go in, and Betsy would always ask, ‘When can I ring that?’ And I’d say, ‘One day, we will.'”
When the day finally came, the families they’d met on the ward were there to witness it. “They’d left work early, lined up waiting for us. All the mums I’ve gotten friendly with, with their children who are still going through treatment – there, cheering for us. That finished me off. I was a wreck,” she said.