Two sisters from Willesden Green have appeared in a national photographic campaign to raise awareness of childhood cancer.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Bella and Sienna Desjardins the morning of the photoshoot (Picture: Franca Desjardins)Bella and Sienna Desjardins the morning of the photoshoot (Picture: Franca Desjardins) (Image: Archant)

Seven-year-old Bella and her younger sister, Sienna,three, are part of the Stop The Childhood Cancer Clock campaign launched by World Child Cancer (WCC).

The siblings donned their favourite dressing up clothes to model in the series shot by photographer Andrew Whelan, whose four-year-old daughter Jessica died of neuroblastoma last year.

The photo collection, part of Child Cancer Awareness Month, aims to highlight what children can achieve if they are given the #giftofgrowing up.

Their mother Franca Desjardins, said: “My daughters have done photoshoots before but never something so important and I was keen to get them involved.

“They were very excited and chose what they wanted to wear. Bella wants to be a fashion stylist and picked out sunglasses to get the look. Sienna loves all the ballerina stories and couldn’t wait to get into her tutu!”

She added: “We are so lucky that our children can dream of being just about anything here in the UK. But for children with cancer across the world, that just isn’t the case, and I’m so proud of my daughter’s role in helping WCC to highlight this cause.”

Bella said: “What I loved the most of the photoshoot was dressing up! I loved that I got to choose my outfit. Mummy’s sunglasses were big but cool to wear!

“Sienna and I had so much fun. It was really nice to do this with her.”

A child dies of cancer every three minutes, according to WCC, whose campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of access to diagnosis, treatment and support in countries where the chances of survival can be as low as 10pc, compared with 80pc in the developed world.

Jon Rosser, CEO at World Child Cancer, said: “This morbid Childhood Cancer Clock is robbing children of the chance to achieve their goals, to experience childhood firsts, to simply grow up.”

To make a donation to WCC Stop the Childhood Cancer Clock campaign text ‘GROW35 £3’ to 70070.

You can also share an image of yourself as a child on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #giftofgrowingup and tag in five friends asking them to do the same.

Every donation made will be matched by the UK Government as part of its UK Aid Match scheme.