No more tough trips for Bianca

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TOM FITZSIMONS - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 03 April 2008

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

CHEERY AND CHEEKY: Leukaemia sufferer Bianca White, 4, enjoys a fresh-air break outside the Grace Neill block.

While Bianca White laughed and tasted fresh air for the first time in days, her father gave thanks that the "axe blow" to Wellington Hospital's child cancer unit had been staved off.

"We're happy," Terence White said yesterday outside the hospital where four-year-old Bianca is in an isolation unit.

"We do think Wellington should have an oncology service. It's the capital city of New Zealand - and we'd really like to have some certainty."

Bianca was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia last June, beginning a course of treatment more than two years long. Though the most intensive chemotherapy had finished - and her hair was starting to grow back - Bianca was put back into isolation earlier this week because of a recurring case of shingles.

Hospital staff let her have 10 minutes outside in a Wellington southerly yesterday afternoon. But despite not being able to push the button in the lift or shake hands, Bianca was full of cheek - joking with her dad as she rode aloft on his shoulders.

"She's been as cheery as we have been," Mr White said. "At the end of the day, it's something that has happened. It doesn't do a lot of good being sad about it."

Going to Christchurch for treatment before Christmas had been tough, and further trips or a permanent move would have been jarring for the family, he said. Temporary doctors at Wellington were helpful, but there were no options if they were sick or Bianca had problems after-hours.

The shortage had been "pretty much like an axe blow" and other families had suffered more than them, shuttling back and forth to other hospitals.

Cancer unit saved

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Two new child specialists hired; old block to be kept as children's hospital

REBECCA PALMER - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 03 April 2008

Children with cancer will get treatment closer to home after Wellington Hospital hired two specialists from Germany to boost its ailing service.

Wellington's sick children are also set to get a new hospital after Capital and Coast District Health Board decided to keep a building previously scheduled to face the wrecking ball.

The board plans to move children's services to the larger Grace Neill building once the new hospital building in Newtown opens.

The board announced yesterday it had recruited two paediatric oncologists - Christian Kratz and Mwe Mwe Chao - from Germany. The pair are expected to start work in October.

Twenty-one children have been sent to Auckland or Christchurch for tertiary (complex) cancer treatment since the sudden resignation of one of Wellington's cancer doctors last July. Its remaining specialist finished in January.

In a bid to save the service, Capital and Coast signed a memorandum of understanding with Canterbury DHB in December to provide a joint service. That memorandum still stands.

Clinical director of child health Graeme Lear said it had been a difficult time.

"We acknowledge and regret the difficulties experienced by patients, their families and staff over the past few months, but we plan to bring this service back up to a full tertiary paediatric oncology service as soon as possible."

The board would continue working with other district health boards till the new doctors arrived. Dr Lear said the pair's skills would benefit the entire country.

Health Minister David Cunliffe said he was delighted with the appointments, which came after he made it clear to the board "something had to be done and done quickly".

Chief operating officer Martin Hefford told a board meeting yesterday that one of the doctors would work part-time at Wellington's medical school. The board would continue looking for a third oncologist.

Ronald McDonald House Wellington chief executive Lesley Slieker had met the doctors when they visited the house a few weeks ago and she said they would be a fantastic asset to the city.

"We're really delighted for the families who have been pushed to the limit over the last few months."

Child Cancer Foundation spokesman John Robson said the need to travel to Auckland or Christchurch had placed added pressure on families and stretched the foundation's resources.

The 11-storey Grace Neill block, planned for the children's hospital, currently contains women's health, maternity services and wards - services that will be moved to the new hospital when it is completed at the end of this year.

Original hospital redevelopment plans did not include the building but interim chief executive Derek Milne said keeping it would give a bigger space for the children's hospital.

A connecting tunnel would be built between the new building and the Grace Neill block.

The existing children's hospital would be converted to offices.

The plan will use $10 million the board has remaining in its redevelopment budget on refurbishments.

Lucy Laws home from hospital

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By DONNA CHISHOLM - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 23 March 2008

NEVILLE MARRINER/Sunday Star Times

HOME AT LAST: Lucy Laws at home in Wanganui, wearing her beads of courage - one for every procedure she has gone through since being diagnosed with leukaemia.

It was the only present Michael Laws' family wanted this Easter having their golden girl Lucy back at home in Wanganui after nearly six weeks in Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital being treated for leukaemia.

Lucy, three, spent her first night at home on Friday night a day later than planned after she developed a fever on Thursday and had to be admitted to Wanganui Hospital overnight.

And while Laws and his partner, Leonie Brookhammer, and their youngest daughter, Zoe, are delighted to have Lucy home, the respite is only temporary Lucy must return for more treatment in Auckland on Thursday.

"I had this expectation that when Lucy came home everything would be normal again. But then you realise there is no normal any more," Brookhammer said.

Said Laws: "It just brought home to us that there is no end to this. The worrying part I think every cancer parent goes through it is that so much can go wrong."

Lucy was due to be discharged more than a week ago but spiking fevers from possibly hospital-acquired infections delayed her release.

Brookhammer, who is nearly three months' pregnant, says she and the girls ended up spending most of Lucy's first night home on the sofa.

"Zoe wanted to cuddle mummy, and Lucy wanted to cuddle mummy. And mummy wanted to cuddle daddy. So I spend half the night cuddling Lucy and half cuddling Zoe."

And while most children will be enjoying their Easter eggs today, Brookhammer says the biggest battle is getting Lucy to eat at all. She has lost weight and has a poor appetite since stopping the steroids she was on, but has had a hot cross bun and some chicken.

Lucy has had an almost miraculous recovery since being diagnosed with leukaemia, pneumonia and a fungal infection on her lungs doctors initially gave her only a slim chance of survival.

Michael Law's daughter back in hospital

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1:24AM Friday March 14, 2008

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws' young daughter Lucy has been readmitted to hospital with an infection.

The three-year-old had been staying at Auckland's Ronald McDonald House while being treated at Starship Children's Hospital for leukaemia.

Mr Laws said that as she underwent chemotherapy treatment she was more susceptible to infection than most children her age.

"She went to theatre and came out with a temperature of 39 degrees," Mr Laws told the Wanganui Chronicle.

Yesterday, she had so much pain she was unable to walk.

He said it was unclear exactly what the infection was, but it was probably caused by Lucy's poor immune system.

"We have been warned this is the case, and the reality is, even with a best-case scenario, it will be a roller-coaster ride for our family life. We just have to hope it works out."

In happier news, it has been revealed Mr Laws and his partner Leonie Brookhammer are engaged.

Mr Laws told Woman's Day he proposed on Christmas Day with a ring chosen with the help of his son, James.

He also revealed Ms Brookhammer was pregnant with the couple's third child.

Mr Laws has two adult children from previous relationships, and Ms Brookhammer has two additional teenage children.

- NZPA

143 acts of courage

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By RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 13 March 2008

CRAIG SIMCOX/Dominion Post

BRAVE ACTS: Each of the 143 beads on eight-year-old Stephen Uelese's necklace represents an 'act of courage' by the boy in his battle against cancer. He gets a hug from brother Ke'es, two.

Each of the 143 beads on eight-year-old Stephen Uelese's necklace represents an "act of courage" by the boy in his battle against cancer.

Every blood test, scan, chemotherapy session, surgical procedure, the two weeks he spent in isolation with pneumonia and pancreatitis, the week he was in a wheelchair because of a bad reaction to medication - each horrible experience is part of his own personal rosary.

"I hate the chemo," Stephen said. "But the beads are cool."

Most child cancer patients taking part in the Child Cancer Foundation's Beads of Courage programme will collect more than 400 beads during treatment.

"Beads of Courage provide the children with a special way of communicating and lets them know just how brave we think they are," foundation spokeswoman Olivia Baylock said.

Stephen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's T-cell lymphoma in October, three months after Wellington Hospital's child cancer unit was forced to close its doors to new patients because of staff shortages.

His mother, Marika Broad, said the family had 12 hours to "sort their lives out" before going to Auckland so Stephen could be treated at Starship children's hospital for six weeks.

Since January, the family had been sent to Christchurch Hospital three times, and it faced another five trips before Stephen could start outpatient treatment.

Being ripped away from normal life was very disruptive for the whole family, Ms Broad said.

"Stephen has been very, very brave but he always asks when can we go home to Wellington."

The practical and emotional support from the foundation workers in Wellington and the Ronald McDonald houses in Auckland and Christchurch had been vital.

"If it wasn't for these non-governmental foundations, we wouldn't survive the journey we are going through."

The foundation's annual appeal is this week and collectors are on Wellington streets today.

Cancer appeal fits All Black to a T

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5:00AM Wednesday March 12, 2008

By Craig Borley

3-year-old cancer sufferer Alexa Carter gets up close to All Black and Blues hooker Keven Mealamu. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Some heavy All Black grunt has got behind this year's Child Cancer Foundation annual appeal _ but as a fashion designer, not a footballer.

Keven Mealamu, the hooker famed for his shattering tackling, designed a T-shirt for the appeal, with a personal touch.

The T-shirt is graced by a monkey, with one ear swollen like his own cauliflowered auricle. Mealamu, who took art at school, said it was a fitting image.

"When kids first see me, they're staring at my ears for a long time. And I call my own kids my cheeky monkeys."

Mealamu was at the Foundation's Family Place in Auckland yesterday, playing with the children and signing their T-shirts.

"You take things for granted. It could easily be one of my children here. You can imagine what the parents are going through. So anything you can do to put a smile on the kids' faces is worthwhile," he said.

CCF marketing manager Olivia Blaylock said Mealamu's input was amazing.

"We need $7 million a year to run, and we don't receive any government funding. So any help these people can give us is incredible.

"And it's great for the kids to see him, and hang out with him."

Rochelle and Brent Miller, whose 7-year-old daughter Briar is undergoing chemotherapy for her leukemia, said the presence of Mealamu was appreciated.

The Foundation was a lifeline for families hit by their children's diagnosis and it was "nice to see [Mealamu] take the time to care", Mrs Miller said.

Cancer girl's brave little helpers

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5:00AM Saturday March 01, 2008
By Eugene Bingham

During her months of life-saving cancer treatment, Petra Hancock just wanted to be a normal kid.

Surrounded by doctors, nurses and her fearful parents, she was a 5-year-old child at the centre of a deadly serious adult world.

Fortunately, solace was never far away. It would come from her twin sister, Libby, who would sit on the Starship hospital bed with a comforting arm around her; or from her 6-year-old brother, Rory, who would lead her to play or paint.

"When she'd have all these adults around her prodding and poking, to have her brother and sister there made it okay for her to switch off and be a kid," Petra's father, Chris, of Whenuapai, said this week.

Petra, whose story appeared in the Weekend Herald in December, is the face of the Child Cancer Foundation annual appeal this month.

For Mr Hancock and his wife, Toni, one of the most important ways the foundation helped was to make them aware of the impact cancer has on siblings.

Research by a foundation volunteer has found that just as it was important for Petra and children like her to have siblings by their side, it was vital the siblings had support too.

The researcher, Rosie Dobson, said brothers and sisters of cancer patients should be made to feel included.

"Allowing them to come up to the hospital can give them a better understanding," she said. Miss Dobson, a research associate at Auckland University, found a mix of impacts during her research, which has been presented internationally.

"Some negative effects included high depressive symptoms and increased anxiety, but there were also some positives such as a feeling that it had brought the family closer together or taught them to be more patient.

"They can be scared about what's going to happen and there was a mention of jealousy."

Parents and other family members should acknowledge what the siblings were going through and that the experience is having a major impact on them too, she said. Mr Hancock said Petra's siblings suffered in their own way, sometimes struggling with the attention being focused on her.

It became particularly important to make sure Libby and Rory understood what was happening when Mrs Hancock's eldest brother died of cancer late last year, explaining that Petra's illness was different.

Petra, who also has a baby brother, Ned, and a 16-year-old half-brother, Josh, will undergo years of scans and check-ups but her cancer is in remission after a nine-month regime of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Her face began appearing on TV this week during advertising for the foundation's March 10-16 appeal.

www.childcancer.org.nz www.petrasbeads.co.nz