Sarah Davis’ daughter Emma was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) as a 12-year-old. She writes about the support the family received and the progress Emma has made since finishing treatment.
Emma began showing signs that something wasn’t quite right during February half-term in 2020. She was a keen swimmer, who trained four or five times a week, but was finding the sessions hard going and complained her head felt like it was being squeezed by her swim hat. She then started getting visual disturbances and while raising funds for her swim club, packing bags at a local supermarket, her vision blacked out completely for a minute or so.
We took her to A&E, and they booked us an appointment with an eye clinic for two days later. We arrived at the appointment at 9.30am on 2 March. By 3pm, I’d been escorted into a side room to be told Emma had leukaemia and we’d be transferred by ambulance to Bristol Children’s Hospital to start treatment, later that day.
From then on, we just seemed to switch into autopilot taking each hour, day and week at a time, for the next 843 days of treatment. It was really tough going, but Emma coped amazingly. This was despite enduring terrible mucositis, nausea, sickness, allergic reactions and a scary sepsis episode, as well as countless blood and platelet transfusions and numerous hospital stays due to febrile neutropenia.
If there was one piece of advice she’d give to anyone in a similar situation, it would be to get out in the fresh air.
Our experience was made even more difficult by the start of the COVID pandemic. Ordinarily, both parents could support and care for their child in hospital. And, providing relatives and friends were well, they could also visit at any point. However, as soon as COVID restrictions hit, only one parent was allowed on the ward at once. This meant Emma missed out on morale-boosting visits from her siblings, friends and extended family. Emma’s older sister, Bethan, was only able to see Emma via a Zoom call or Facetime for the first month of treatment. My husband and I would only fleetingly see each other, as we swapped over in the corridor, every three days. Looking back on that situation now, we did it without question, but recalling this memory, the heartbreak of being turned away from the ward on Mother’s Day still hits hard.
While at times it felt like we were going through this alone, our experience would’ve been a lot worse, had it not been for some special charities. Throughout Emma’s two-and-a-quarter years of treatment and beyond, we benefited from the services of Young Lives vs Cancer, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, Ben Saunders Foundation, Molly Olly’s Wishes, The Little Princess Trust, Supershoes, Cyclists Fighting Cancer, Kid’s Cancer Charity, Dexter’s Odyssey and Bright Futures UK. We can’t thank them all enough for their help, and hope they know their work has made the last few years a lot less harrowing for not only our family, but countless others over the years.
Emma, who’s now 15, tried to stay as active as possible throughout treatment. If there was one piece of advice she’d give to anyone in a similar situation, it would be to get out in the fresh air. Even when she wasn’t feeling strong enough to walk very far, we’d push her on her scooter or bike. She’s now over a year post-treatment and continues to go from strength to strength. She’s returned to swimming competitively, for Frome Swimming Club, and is targeting achieving qualifying times to compete in the Somerset County Championships in January 2024. Emma’s also turned an average attendance at school from 32% in Year 9 to 96% in Year 10. And, having successfully completed her bronze Duke of Edinburgh award during the maintenance stage of treatment in 2022, she’ll be embarking on her silver expedition in September 2023.
From Contact magazine issue 100 - Autumn 2023
