Molly is an 8-year-old Cancer Survivor and I am her mom sharing her story.

Molly had just turned 5 and was getting ready to start school for the first time in a few days. I began noticing strange bruising on Molly and she was abnormally tired. She was always a very active and healthy kid up to this point.

One day, Molly began feeling very unwell and she I took her to the IWK Health Centre’s emergency room. They immediately whisked her into a room as she was so pale. After some blood work, we were shocked to be told she had leukemia and had very critical blood levels. She was admitted immediately, and had surgery that week to do a biopsy and insert a port for chemo. We were all in a state of shock but at the same time, so very grateful for the quick response and treatment plan we were given for Molly.

Very high success rate

After the initial shock, we were very relieved to find out her type of leukemia has a very high success rate. She started chemotherapy 3 days after her diagnosis. It was quite overwhelming to learn that her treatment would take almost 2.5 years. It felt like we would never get to that point. After many rounds of chemo, losing a head of hair and many awful-tasting medications, Molly was a cancer survivor!

We first noticed the Daffodil Garden for Cancer Survivors on our way home from treatment. One day we decided to return to check it out, and were lucky to meet some new friends. We continue to visit and celebrate Molly’s journey to being a very young survivor.

Molly still has many years of monitoring and follow-up ahead in her young life, but we focus on the positive and enjoying things that bring us joy such as her new hobby of gardening and planting daffodil bulbs at her favourite garden!