Kate's Story
Learning of your son’s cancer diagnosis is the type of news a mother never wants to receive, especially on Mother’s Day.
“Alex had been sick for a couple of weeks with fevers and numbness in his jaw,” says Kate. “He Googled his symptoms and told me he thought he had Leukaemia. ‘No!’ I said but later that night I Googled myself and thought, ‘Oh my God.’”
After a week at our local hospital, Alex was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. He was just 20 years old and about to face the scariest journey of his short life.
Alex was rushed to a major treating hospital for chemotherapy. As his family live in a country town, Kate went with him. Like many parents who unexpectedly find themselves supporting a child in hospital, she struggled to find somewhere to stay.
During this time, a parent’s entire world is about trying to save the life of their child. There’s no time to worry about where they’ll stay. They just want to be as close to their child as they can, to care for them and to will them to live.
After a gruelling round of chemotherapy, Alex’s doctors decided the risk of cancer returning was too high so it was decided that he needed a bone marrow transplant. “Alex was brave, but both of us were worried,” Kate recalls. “I wanted to be close by, but could only find accommodation a long way away.”
“The accommodation facility provided by Fight Cancer Foundation really did give me a place to feel safe when everything else was out of control,” says Kate. “Finally I was close to the hospital, within walking distance and most importantly, feeling safe in a strange city.”
Alex is finally home after a successful bone marrow transplant. He has a positive outlook and will return to work part-time soon. Understandably, Kate is very proud of how Alex coped through his journey to fight cancer and is looking forward to a stress-free Mother’s Day.
A smile from a brave child will make any mother’s day. Please donate today to help us keep mothers like Kate comfortably beside their child when they need them most.