Getting our daughter back

In 2008, Chloe from Scotland, who was then aged eight, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. From that day, Chloe and her parents have undergone a roller-coaster of emotions from diagnosis, to treatment and donation, and now recovery.

When Chloe’s parents were told of her diagnosis, her mother Pauline said to the doctor:

"You have to understand that we’re not ready to lose our daughter. She asked the doctor to fight for her life."

She said of telling Chloe about her diagnosis: "I hoped she didn’t realise how terrified I was".

Following five rounds of chemotherapy treatment, her parents, Pauline and Craig, were told that she would need a blood stem cell donation.

Chloe wasn’t optimistic about the donation and says herself:

When I got told I was going to need stem cell treatment, I thought that it was over, but it wasn't.

An international blood stem cell registry search was undertaken and a matching donor was found and Chloe received the blood stem cell donation in February 2009.

Then, five months after her transplant, the doctors said that Chloe was in remission, and Pauline said to Craig:

It feels like we have been given our daughter back.

Throughout this journey from diagnosis to recovery, Chloe has dealt amazingly with the difficulties she was facing, as Pauline said: “Chloe had always been quiet, but now she was finding her confidence. One day, I walked on to her ward to see all the beds empty. From the corner of the room, I could hear the sounds of giggles. I walked towards the noise to find Chloe putting on a puppet show to entertain the younger kids. Afterwards I said ‘What made you think of doing that?’ and she said ‘Some of the children looked sad and I thought it would cheer them up’.

I was so proud of her.