Lexie Petrie was just six years old when what doctors thought was a chunk of undigested banana bread turned out to be a much more devastating diagnosis.
When Kelly Petrie’s six-year-old daughter began complaining of hip pain, she was told by “five or six” doctors that it was either constipation, a urinary tract infection, or, on one occasion, a chunk of undigested banana bread.
“I look at it now – at the time, because you have all the faith in the doctors you think, ‘OK maybe I am just a paranoid mother … because Lexie had always been such a healthy kid,” she told news.com.au.
“It got to the point, after about three or four weeks, that she was just getting sicker and sicker …. And they were saying it was constipation, but I said, ‘She’s pooing, that doesn’t make sense.’
“They gave her an enema (after being sent to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead) and I remember her bending over and it was like she was bearing now in labour, that’s how bad the pain was.”
It was the advice of a nurse at Campbelltown Hospital, whose own daughter had presented with similar symptoms years earlier, and Kelly’s own “mother’s intuition” that eventually led to Lexie being diagnosed with neuroblastoma.
“We were told by the oncologist that if we had’ve kept her any longer, we would’ve lost her – she would’ve been gone within a week,” she said.
“It was so severe. And because she was [classified as] stage four high risk, by the time she started chemo they actually said to me, ‘If you want to take her home, you can.’
“She said, ‘As an oncologist I have to say that, because she is so frail and it is so bad that I can’t guarantee that the chemotherapy isn’t going to take her.’ But, as she said to me, ‘As an oncologist I need to tell you the risks and the statistics, but as a mother I say we start this afternoon.’”
Nine days later, Lexie began a gruelling series of treatments aimed at shrinking her cancer and saving her life.
“She had intense chemotherapy for three months, and that was every 10 days. And then after she had her chemotherapy, they did an 11-and-a-half hour operation to try and remove as much tumour as they possibly could. So they got all bar about a bit the size of a 10 cent coin that was attached to her kidney,” Kelly recalled.
“Then she went back in and had a bone-marrow transplant … and in early December she began radiation, which was four days a week, for a month. And then in the January we had to have three weeks off treatment, and then she began a trial, which was six months of immunotherapy purely to kill off the neuroblastoma cells.”
Lexie finally left hospital – for more than just a few days – on June 15, more than a year after her initial diagnosis.
And while there’s no cure for neuroblastoma, Kelly said, “They did [eventually] class her as being in remission because of the advancement of the cancer and the percentage rate that we were given for her survival.
“They allowed her to ring the bell in September of 2018. And that was the five year mark, and that’s when they said, ‘There is no cure but because she’s made it to this part, we’re going to say that she’s cured.’”
Against all odds, Lexie, now 16, swims, does cross country, dances 13 classes a week, and is an ambassador for the Children Cancer Institute’s CEO Dare to Cure challenge, which is aimed at raising money for childhood cancer.
And while the family take things “a day a time”, Kelly said that she’s no longer living in fear.
“We put our lives on hold for such a long time while Lexie was doing treatment. Now we plan things for the future, and if something comes up and we can’t do it, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” she said.
“But I no longer think ‘What if, what if’, because you’d go stir crazy. You really would. And you’d be forever looking over your shoulder wondering, ‘What’s going to happen?’”
And while Lexie has always been “shy” and “hated talking about being sick”, now the Petrie family are focused on using her story for good.
“With [Dare to Cure], she was quite excited, but she was worried over whether she’d have to talk,” Kelly said.
“And I said, ‘No, you don’t have to talk. This is all about raising money, because if we raise money we might be able to find a cure, and nobody else will have to go through what you went through.’
“So it’s our time now to give back for what we got when we were in hospital.”
CEO Dare to Cure brings together leading CEOs and business leaders from across Australia to face a fear by taking on a dare, and at the same time, help cure childhood cancer.
This iconic early morning event will take place at Fleet Steps in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens on Tuesday, November 23 between 6am and 9.30am. All proceeds go to the Children’s Cancer Institute. To make a donation, visit ceodaretocure.org.au
Originally published as CEO Dare to Cure: Horror reason for little girl’s hip pain
For all the latest Lifestyle News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.