Amy Winston-Hart, of Harborough, drew on her experience of caring for four-year-old daughter Eva as she battled leukaemia to come up with the idea for the book, which she has worked on with close friend Cassie French.

Written in poem form, the book tells the story of the Magical Hairy Fairies, mystical creatures Amy dreamt up to help Eva cope with losing her hair during the intensive chemotherapy sessions.

Eva underwent a stem cell transplant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in May last year and is now recovering – free of the tubes and the majority of the drugs which helped keep her alive during her treatment.

Mrs Winston-Hart (29), who lives in The Headlands with husband Dave, Eva and their other daughter Mia, said: “When Eva became ill we had to explain it to her so we said ‘you’ve got a bit poorly but we have medicine to make it better’.

“As her hair fell out I said that if we put it all in a bag then the Magical Hairy Fairies will collect it and bring it back when you’re better. It was just a way of trying to help her through it.

“It was a way of coping for me as well as for her. She could be angry with the fairies for taking her hair rather than with herself or with me.”

As Eva grew stronger Amy sat down with family friend Cassie to put the stories she had told her daughter down on paper.

They got in touch with one of Cassie’s friends – Jim Chivers, who designed the Carbon Footprint as well as National Lottery logos – and he drew a series of illustrations to go with the book.

Amy and Cassie say they hope that, once finished, the book could go into children’s hospitals to help young leukaemia sufferers and their families cope with the illness.

Their idea is that each book will come with a bag in which children can place their lost hair for the fairies to collect.

Mrs Winston-Hart said: “The illustrations are really good and I’m really pleased with it. It’s over the top and magical but it takes you away from the medical side of things, which is a real help.”