THE mum of a young cancer survivor from Durham has documented the impact that leukaemia had on her daughter after her diagnosis with the devastating condition was mistaken for ‘growing pains’.
Isla Hindmoor, 12, from Durham, was just like any other seven-year-old child – growing up and enjoying her family life.
However, this soon started to unravel after she started to have regular pains, nausea, and massive bouts of exhaustion.
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“At first, her symptoms just sounded like normal growing pains,” remembers Isla’s Mum, Joanne, 44.
“Leg pain, a bit of sickness, that sort of thing. But then, when we were on holiday in Mexico, her nausea got much worse.
"She was dizzy, exhausted, and losing weight rapidly. The ten-hour flight back to the UK was horrible – she could hardly cope with the pain.”
After coming back from the holiday, doctors at the University Hospital of North Durham quickly diagnosed seven-year-old Isla with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – an aggressive form of blood cancer which affects the white blood cells.
“Our world came crashing down,” said Joanne.
“It was just a blur after that. She had to travel in one of the Great North Children’s Hospital ambulances to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where we were put on the children’s cancer ward.
“There were so many poorly children – there was no privacy at all. I went into a small side room and just completely broke down.”
Despite her very young age, Isla began gruelling treatment straight away, including major surgery to fit a port-a-cath; a small chamber that sits underneath the skin beside the heart to directly administer chemotherapy and other drugs and fluids for treatment.
“Everything changed,” said Isla, now aged 12.
“I missed my sister and my friends. I just wanted to be normal again.”
After a gruelling two-year battle against acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Isla continues to be regularly scanned but has now been ‘cancer-free’ for over two years.
As part of her recovery, Isla, who is now in year seven and obsessed with baking after starting to take up the hobby during her treatment, was gifted a wish.
Through Make-A-Wish, Isla has now been gifted a cake stand mixer.
“Isla first started baking during treatment,” said Joanne.
“It gave her something to focus on and take her mind off the pain. Her Nan, Gillian, taught her how to bake – she just lives around the corner, so Isla is always heading round there to bake together.
“Now she’ll be able to bake as much as she wants to in her own home. I think her Nan will be grateful for a break!”
Isla, who is now back in school in Durham, hopes to study Food Technology and even open her own cake shop when she gets older.
She added: “I was so excited to get my wish! I can’t wait to keep using it. From a young age I’ve loved baking – I find it very therapeutic. When I was poorly and going through a stressful time it was all I wanted to do. I really missed everything being normal.
“Sometimes I look back and think, wow, I can’t believe that happened,’ said Isla. ‘But now I’m in school and I’ve got new friends and I can bake cakes whenever I like. Everything is back to normal, and that’s all I want.”
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