Stand Up to Cancer Celebrity Gogglebox: Stephen Graham and Jennifer Saunders overcome by brave little Elizabeth Rooney's fight against cancer

The heartbreaking account of an 11-year-old girl who bravely shared her experience on camera as she faced cancer for the fourth and final time, left TV stars in floods of tears last night after her emotional Stand Up To Cancer film was broadcast nationally during C4’s Celebrity Gogglebox, just months after she passed away.

Elizabeth Rooney from Gosport in Hampshire was first diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at the age of three when a neuroendocrine tumour was discovered in the tissue surrounding her eye. Despite having her eye removed in 2020 to prevent it coming back, Elizabeth’s cancer returned just weeks after losing her mum, Charlotte Lewis, to breast cancer last October.

Shortly afterwards, Elizabeth chose to tell her story in an emotive Stand Up To Cancer film to raise awareness and help others – something she felt passionately about throughout her short life. It was broadcast for the first time on Channel 4 on Wednesday ahead of the night of live television on Friday.

Celebrity Gogglebox featured stars including actor Stephen Graham, father and son Jeff and Bobby Brazier, former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger and her rugyby player fiance Thom Evans, Bob Mortimer and actor Richard Ayoade and Jennifer Saunders.

Elizabeth's story reduced Stephen Graham to tears and had a visible effect on Jennifer Saunders and her daughter Beattie Edmondson.

Stand Up To Cancer helps to take breakthroughs from the lab and accelerate them into new treatments that could make a real difference to people with cancer in the region and across the UK.  Tragically, Elizabeth passed away before her film was completed.

Narrating the story of her life on camera, Elizabeth’s step-dad, Matthew Lewis, said: “Elizabeth first had cancer when she was three. It re-occurred when she was about six and again, somewhere around seven or eight. So many adults would have struggled with what she’d been through but there was some sort of spirit inside her that was undefeatable. She was an amazing person. From such a young age she inspired so many people.”

Part filmed at University Hospital Southampton’s Piam Brown ward whilst receiving treatment earlier this year, Elizabeth recalled the signs she spotted that indicated something wasn’t quite right.

She said: “I like going to school because I get to see my friends every day but I was noticing it was getting harder to get round the school at breaktimes.  So we stayed overnight at hospital and then finally they told us there was something wrong.”

Matthew explained: “The cancer was in nearly all of her hips, her lungs, her lymph nodes and there were some concerning aspects up on her skull and towards her brain.”

Devastatingly, Matthew received the news about Elizabeth’s fourth diagnosis the day before the funeral of her mum and his wife, Charlotte. Matthew said: “They knew mummy was very ill but eventually we found out it was in her bones, it was metastatic and that meant it was incurable. It was terminal.”

Mum-of-three, Charlotte, who was commended alongside Elizabeth for their commitment to fundraising and raising awareness for Cancer Research UK, had originally been diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks after her youngest son, Jack, now five, was born. 

Elizabeth said: “Mummy said if they could hold it back for long enough, then they might find a cure for it and I was quite happy after that. Then they found out it was in too many places, so they did chemotherapy which helped a bit. But it wasn’t enough and a couple of days afterwards, she died.

Describing his wife’s final moments, Matthew said: “When she was going, I made sure that I was playing a memory that had come up that day on Facebook of her kids laughing. I made sure that was the last thing she heard so she knew how good she was as a mother. It was a very difficult time for Elizabeth because she’d always had her mum with her for everything she went through. All the treatment she’d had, her mum was always by her side. She had to cope with not only having her mum, but also not having her mum to support her during that difficult time.”

Describing her treatment plan to the Stand Up To Cancer team with both courage and honesty, Elizabeth said: “Today I’m here to get rid of the other bits of cancer I have now. And I’m scared of it because it’s in lots more places. My mum’s died from it. But if you want to start living a happy life, you’ve just got to trek on the path it’s decided to give you. They’re going to check the scans and it is shrinking, just not as much as the other pieces. So they’re thinking they can use radiotherapy to target that one area and then it’s gone. When I was younger, I didn’t really understand it but now I do, so it’s a bit more scary now.”

Due to the nature and rarity of her cancer, Elizabeth’s treatment options were limited. After exploring every possible avenue, eventually Elizabeth was taken to Naomi House Hospice to receive palliative care. Speaking on camera at the time, Matthew said: “The future looks bleak if we go off what we’ve been told. Eventually she was going to ask the question, ‘Am I going to die?’ The nurse had to be honest with her and told her she would never go home.”

On April 19, aged 11 years old, Elizabeth passed away. 

Reflecting on a life that was full of love and ambition but tragically cut short by cancer, the film ends with Elizabeth’s words: “When you have something like this, you’ve just got to make the most of the time you have, because it may be too late.”

 Stand Up To Cancer is helping to transform the landscape of cancer therapy. Since its launch in 2012, the campaign has raised more than £93 million, funding 64 clinical trials and research projects involving more than 13,000 cancer patients.  

 This includes the CONFIRM trial led by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit that tested an immunotherapy drug, nivolumab, for the treatment of mesothelioma when initial chemotherapy has failed. Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that usually starts in the tissue around the lungs. It is often linked to asbestos exposure and can be very difficult to treat. The trial found that nivolumab boosts the immune system to find and destroy cancer cells, giving people more time with their loved ones. This drug is now used in the NHS to treat mesothelioma.   

 Cancer Research UK spokesperson for the south, Elisa Mitchell said: “We are very grateful to Elizabeth, her step-dad Matthew, brothers Jack and Michael and her dad, Dan for showing such courage throughout an incredibly challenging time. They have all demonstrated why we need people to Stand Up To Cancer with us.  Thanks to our supporters, our researchers are working tirelessly to help more people beat cancer - from developing a molecule to super-charge the immune system to attack tumours, to re-programming viruses to seek and destroy cancer cells.      “But we must go further and faster. One-in-two of us will get cancer in our lifetime.  All of us can help beat it. That’s why we’re asking everyone to Stand Up To Cancer with us. Whether it’s choosing to donate or fundraise, if thousands of us take a stand we’ll speed up the progress of vital research – meaning more people live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer.”    The Stand Up To Cancer campaign culminated in a night of live television on Channel 4 last night (Friday, 3 November).