CJ's Story
Our story does have a positive ending, but it also gave us a horrible insight into other parents realities.
At the age of three our daughter started experiencing leg pain, mostly at night. Assuming this was growing pains I took her to the GP just to get some advice on how to ease her pain as it had been going on for a few weeks.
Our GP sent us to hospital as a precaution to get some blood tests done, I was pretty sure we would be in and out I felt pretty calm about it.
However to our horror her blood tests came back matching those of a child suffering with early stages of leukaemia.
It took 6 days for us to be told leukaemia wasn’t present but a further 3 weeks before we were given the official all clear.
As most parents do until that moment I had always lived in a bubble, pretending childhood illness doesn’t happen and shielding myself from horrible stories in the news.
You tell yourself those things won’t happen to us. I was very naïve.
Suddenly you have to stop thinking like that and instead you are full of fear about your child’s future, the treatment they might have to face and the impact a positive diagnosis will have on their childhood, mental and physical health.
We were so lucky and I am so very aware of how lucky.
This situation has changed my attitude. I still try not to dwell on the horrible things happen to children in the world, but instead of pretending non of that exists I focus on the fact that I can do something to help.
Our daughter had to have multiple tests performed and instead of being crushed by this she stayed calm and happy even when inside I wasn’t. Children see the world so differently to us and are filled with optimism they don’t let fear keep them from accepting the world as it is.
I have now signed up as a bone marrow and stem cell donor. It seems like such a simple thing to do, a no brainer and it could save a child life.
The process was incredibly easy for sign up, a few swabs and a form. The stem cell process is 4- 5 hours long, but that 4-5 hours could save a life.
I would encourage any parents to sign up, those families who aren’t as lucky as us need all the support they can get.