BiographyCallie was born on New Years Eve 2018, 7lb 14oz and perfectly healthy. Callie was an absolute ball of energy, we used to call her a bull in a china shop, she was enjoying pre-school 4 days a week with her big sister Marnie.
We enjoyed the summer holidays together as always, parks, paddling pool, festivals.
Then, September 4th 2021, our world turned upside down. Callie was at her dads and wanted to stay in bed and sleep all day. This was so unlike her as usually she is a ball of energy. Leading up to the the worst day of our lives Callie had been napping more, bruising a bit more then usual and not wanting to walk anywhere. Individually all appropriate behaviour for a two year old. But the staying in bed was alarm bells for her dad and I. We called 111 and got a GP appointment, he did all the usual checks, chest, throat, ears etc, all was fine but sent her to A&E to just check her urine.
The hospital did routine blood test and within hours we had a diagnosis for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
This is when the bone marrow releases white blood cells before they are mature called blast cells. These blast cells take up room for red cells and platelets and the white blood cells that prevent infection aren’t efficient.
Callie began 2.5 years of chemotherapy almost immediately, the first 8 weeks were really tough, Callie was really unwell and lost use of her legs. We are now 4 months in and things are a little easier, Callie is getting back to her usual happy self.
|
