Keeping Up a Positive Attitude
- Eva Thornley, 10, came home with bruises one day from school, and her parents wondered if she had been in a fight. Luckily, they had the sense to take her to go get blood work.
- Scott and Katrina’s world caved in when they found out that Eva actually had leukemia, a type of blood cancer affecting the white blood cells.
- Leukemias are cancers that start in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. When these cells become leukemic, they stop maturing properly and grow out of control, spilling into the bloostream.
“It's like your whole world crumbles,” Eva’s father Scott, 40, told Manchester Evening News. “All the worst possible scenarios were going through my mind. You just assume the worst straight away as a parent. I felt grief, to be honest; it didn't look like it was affecting me but inside it killed me.”
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Eva, who was just 9 years old when she received her diagnosis, just celebrated her 10th birthday in the Manchester, England hospital.Scott marvels at the difference between adults and children when it comes to facing disease.
“The kids on the ward are so happy and they just get on with it. They're not like adults,” Scott said. “Eva's hair has fallen out now because of the chemo, but if you met her and spoke to her, you wouldn't think anything was wrong with her.
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The little girl and her family are hoping she can come home for a little break in between treatments. Ever since they found out the devastating news, it has understandably been nonstop
“When we got tested, they rang us at 10.30pm at night and said we needed to get to hospital straight away and alarm bells started to ring then. That's how serious it was.”
Despite the jarring first glimpse of the kids in the ward with evident hair loss from cancer treatment, Scott said they are feeling optimistic. “Knowing your child has to go through what she's gone through… all we have is positivity. That's all we've got. There's nothing whatsoever I can do to help my child. It's an aggressive cancer so we've got the treat it aggressively.”
Related: Warning Signs! The Top Ten Childhood Cancer Symptoms That Can Be Missed
Eva has had 10 chemotherapy infusions so far, and has remained “smiling and happy” throughout. “It's just a horrible situation, but it makes me proud to be her dad.”
Learning About Leukemia
Leukemias are cancers that start in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. When these cells become leukemic, they stop maturing properly and grow out of control. Eventually, they spill into the bloodstream.
Because they are essentially abnormal white blood cells, they prevent your blood from doing normal things like fighting infections, keeping your energy up and preventing excessive bleeding.
Symptoms of leukemia can vary depending on the specific type of leukemia.
Common signs and symptoms of the disease include:
- Fever or chill
- Persistent fatigue, weakness
- Frequent or severe infections
- Losing weight without trying
- Swollen lymph nodes, enlarged liver or spleen
- Easy bleeding or bruising
- Recurrent nosebleeds
- Tiny red spots in your skin (petechiae)
- Excessive sweating, especially at night
- Bone pain or tenderness
Here at SurvivorNet, we always encourage people to advocate for themselves when it comes to cancer and, more generally, health care. When it comes to a child or teenager, the parent must become the advocate. Although symptoms of leukemia are often initially tough to identify, make sure to get your child checked out if something seems amiss, and don't stop for answers until you find out what's wrong.
Contributing by SurvivorNet Staff.
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