Four-year-old Savannah (Savvy) has always been a girl on the go! She is bright and bubbly and loves to play at the beach.
As an active child, when Savvy developed knee pain, doctors believed it was probably a minor injury. However, after noticing Savvy become increasingly irritable and that she wasn’t able to weight bear on one of her legs due to the pain in her knee, mum Siobhan returned to the doctor for answers.
Doctors did further investigations and Savvy was diagnosed with a bone infection and treated for that. But Savvy was starting to become quite pale and lethargic, and that’s when her pediatric doctor consulted an oncologist specialist.
It was there that Savvy was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that starts in early nerve cells called neuroblasts.
While she had feared there was more to Savvy’s pain, the diagnosis came as a total shock to Siobhan.
“It was very hard to process. So much unknown, and very daunting. As a parent you always do the best you can for your child and now it would be down to a medical team to help her. We just had to get through the days one at a time.”
Life had changed in an instant. On just a day’s notice Siobhan and Savvy had to move three and a half hours away from home to begin Savvy’s treatment. Siobhan had been mid-way through a placement for her radiology studies, but that was immediately placed on hold, and she was unable to continue working. For the next six months they would remain away from their home, friends, and family while Savvy underwent intensive treatment.
Siobhan worked hard to maintain an optimistic mindset. She even found positives in their experience, such as the relationships they built within the hospital community, and a deepened emotional bond. Savvy’s own bravery was an inspiration to her mum, but the toll of the treatment on her little body was enormous.
At only four, enduring many rounds of chemotherapy, stem cell treatments, transfusions and other therapies would often leave Savvy weak and in pain. At times she required feeding via a tube, and she developed anxiety from all the invasive medical interventions.
Despite this, Siobhan says the hardest part of Savvy’s experience was missing out on some of the joys of childhood.
“Savvy missed being around kids her own age. She was sick of being around adults all the time. She has grown up so quickly and can participate in an adult conversation despite being so young. Savvy got sad when she remembered what was waiting for her back home, like her daycare, friends and activities. She had only just taken the training wheels off her bike and had learned how to ride horses before she was diagnosed with cancer.”
While she dealt with the pain of her treatment and the sadness of her isolation, Captain Starlight was on hand to help put some of the fun and laughter back into childhood for Savvy. Savvy especially loved playing Bingo with the Captains, and it became the highlight of the day on the ward!
In Siobhan’s words, the Captains helped to remove the “hospital vibe” and shifted Savvy’s attitude when times were tough, like spending her birthday in hospital:
“I loved seeing how the Captains helped brighten her day and kept her hospital experience childlike. Savvy loved the jokes and how the Captains would stir her up on purpose to get a funny reaction.”
Siobhan can’t imagine what their experience would have been like without Captain Starlight. If she could speak directly to Starlight supporters, she would like to deliver this message;
“Thank you. It's hard to understand what it is like having a sick child until you are in this position. Please, spare what you can. Speaking from personal experience, it does go a long way to brightening sick kids’ lives”.
“This journey has been so hard as a parent of a sick child, but it’s also been a beautiful learning experience for Savvy and I. We have discovered there is kindness and support within the community, and this has brought us so much faith and hope.”
