This is a personal story of one mother’s battle with her daughter’s diagnosed cancer and the challenge of different types of treatment. In June 2004, my 13 year old daughter Kestra was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphatic cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma. This disease, we were professionally informed, usually presented itself in adults, but very rarely in children. At the time of the diagnosis Kestra’s medical records listed no previous illnesses, as she was the youngest of four healthy children.
Five weeks before diagnosis, Kestra pulled herself out of her netball game, injured. A fierce competitor, she was frustrated during the match by an ache she was feeling under her arm, though only conceded when unable to lift her arm at all. By the time I bought her home she crawled into my bed, where she remained for the next few weeks, then diagnosed by her GP as having either glandular fever or an unknown virus.
Upon admittance to Starship Children’s Hospital, Kestra was 19 kilograms under weight, ad an ongoing temperature soaring around 41.degrees Celsius, breathed only with the aid of an oxygen and was unable to stand without assistance. She soon developed pneumonia and was admitted to Starship’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). She remained there for two days, where she suffered ongoing hallucinations. Sleep deprivation and obvious swelling in her lower abdomen and neck glands. More of the full story on the main page.