Leah Wilby
Leah's wish is to visit Alton Towers for the weekend, and then to visit cadburys World in Birmingham
Words by Leah Wilby
In June 2004 when I came out of school my mum noticed I had a
lump come up in my neck but didn’t have it in the morning. I couldn’t feel
the lump and people had said to my mum before if you can’t feel the lump it
could be cancer. But my mum kept taking me to the doctors and they kept saying
it is nothing to worry about and so on. I had a scan the Wednesday before we
flew to Florida for a holiday and they said it will be alright for us to still
go as we were told it was nothing to worry about. The two weeks we were over
there it was getting bigger and had to go to the Norfolk & Norwich hospital
the day after we got back. They were going to remove it the next day but wanted
a chest x-ray to make sure it was ok to operate but the x-ray picked a tumour up
in my chest so we had to go to Addenbrookes
hospital (Cambridge) on the next day (Friday). They removed it from the neck on
the Monday which they said was the size of a man’s fist and left the chest a
couple of weeks so I could recover. Those few weeks went by and I was soon in
for it to be removed from the chest. The surgery took 6 ½ hours
and after that I was on a ventilator in P.I.C.U (paediatric intensive care unit)
for a couple of days, this operation was in November 2004. In February I went
back for scans and they shew up that the cancer had returned so that is when all
the treatment started So I had to have a Hickman line put in for the drugs. The
line was a little tube inserted into my chest and went up to my neck. On 8th
July 2005 I fell badly ill with a line infection transferring me to Addenbrookes
hospital. The infection was called Septasemia.
It
was a life and death situation. My whole body was shutting down, my kidneys were
failing my heart was slowing down and was on pumps all the time. My line came
out at midnight and had a tube in my leg to keep fluid in me. I was in P.I.C.U
on my 10th birthday on the 10th of July so I was hardly
able to do anything. I had my new line put it and there was no trouble which was
a relief.
After
Christmas 2005 I was offered a place at The UCLH hospital in London for some
highly radioactive treatment to get rid of the cancer as it was the only choice
left, so I took it. I was took to the UCLH
For
my treatment in February 2006 for a week and couldn’t come out. I was in a led
line room and my mum couldn’t come in. My sister had to practically live at my
Nan’s for about four weeks because I was radioactive. I stayed at home for a
week then had to go back for another week’s treatment of the same. A couple of
weeks after that Keata could move back in. In April 2006 I was told the tumour
had shrunk and the bone marrow was now clear and could have my stem cell
transplant but without the chemo and was in on my mums birthday and Easter.
In
June 2006 I was able to have surgery to remove what was left of the tumour in
the chest. A few days after my operation I was allowed to go home and the day
after I came home I was with my school friends at pleasure wood hills theme park
but wasn’t able to go on all the rides I wanted, but then again it was still a
nice treat. At the beginning of July I was back in Addenbrookes for another stem
cell transplant but this time with high dose chemo which I felt all drowsy and
wasn’t able to do anything, I was given the most morphine I was allowed as I
was in a lot of pain and was kept in isolation. I was in on my
birthday again but my dad, sister and Nan came down.
After I came home from this about 3 weeks later I had to have 3 weeks of
Radiotherapy Treatment which meant traveling to Cambridge and back every day
when Mum and Dad took it in turns to drive as it is 90 miles away from our home.
After
a while of being home I had to take 5 tablets twice a day for 6 months 2 weeks
on and 2 weeks off. I won’t be given the all clear for 5 years.
Leah
Wilby – age 11