About this blog

The whole process of dealing with a cancer diagnosis can seem utterly terrifying and incredibly isolating. Following our daughter’s leukaemia diagnosis I felt compelled to use our own experiences to explain some of the many impacts that cancer has on a young person’s life and the way it affects so many people around them.

Blogs written by Rachel

  • Patient Name: Suki
  • Cancer Type: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
  • Age when diagnosed: 4

Not being able to see your younger sister
At the time of diagnosis, Suki’s younger sister Betsie was just 22 months old. From that moment she lived with her grandparents for more than five weeks, during that time I saw her for no more than eight hours in total. Living ...

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Easter in the lockdown

14th April 2020

Different for so many
This Easter weekend has been a very different one for so many.
People apart from their family and friends.
People at home and in isolation.
People unable to get away on that break they’ve been looking forward to.
People working in so many challenging roles to ...

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A glimpse into a life like ours
In self isolation yet again, but this time with the whole world having a greater understanding of what it’s like to live with an ever-present uncertainty, panic and fear.
Since Suki’s diagnosis, we have never taken anything for granted. As difficult as this ...

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Christmas with chemo

22nd November 2019

When cancer dominates the festive season
After almost a year of intense chemotherapy, Suki reached the maintenance stage of cancer treatment in early December. But while we were hospital on 22 December, Suki started to feel unwell, she spiked a temperature and was admitted to hospital that same day.
Bloods ...

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Stress awareness day

8th November 2019

Mummy, I don’t fit in anywhere any more
“Mummy, I don’t fit in anywhere any more”, such heartbreaking words to hear from your child.
Six months post end of treatment and there’s an expectation that life has returned to ‘normal’, that the events of the last few years are behind ...

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Beads of Courage

29th July 2019

Powerful tool
The Beads of Courage are such a clever and powerful tool throughout Suki’s treatment so far.
Receiving a bead each time a procedure takes place in hospital, or when a nurse visits, is very much part of the medical routine; “Have bloods taken, sit down with the nurse ...

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