Aashna was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was six years old in February 2023. Her mother, Alpana, shares her story.
Aashna first showed signs of cancer when she started limping as she walked down the stairs at school. For an active and healthy child, it seemed okay. But what followed was a month of progressive loss of mobility, day by day. She began crying at school, taking naps after coming home, and complaining of bone pains even while standing. We dismissed her symptoms as tiredness and growing pains, too busy and hopeful that she’d get better.
Looking back, we still wonder why we didn’t google her signs and symptoms. Instead, we tried to make things easier for her. We got her a scooter to minimise walking and kept her busy indoors. We had two visits to A&E, received a fracture diagnosis, and had two appointments with her GP. They finally conducted basic blood tests, and shortly after, we received the dreaded call: “Aashna’s blood results don’t look good. Come to the hospital immediately.” We pulled her out of school in the middle of the day, unknowingly starting the hard journey that follows a leukaemia diagnosis.
By the time she was admitted to the hospital, her bone marrow was over 90% cancer cells, her platelet count was half of the minimum normal level, and her neutrophils (part of the immune system) were almost zero. The chemotherapy drugs were so toxic in her tiny body that they almost caused her pancreas to fail, risking kidney failure when her lipase enzyme levels peaked at 135 times the normal maximum level.
She couldn’t eat due to a parallel infection and became dangerously underweight before they started total parenteral nutrition (TPN) feeds. Aashna was put on immunotherapy, which eventually got her to minimal residual disease (MRD) negative status, and they restarted her chemo regimen. She’s now in maintenance treatment, with the end of treatment expected in April 2025.
Despite everything, she attends school when she can. She’s doing well and was elected as part of her school council after a hotly contested election. We want to share Aashna’s story to raise awareness - childhood cancer can affect anyone.
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