Every day another 47 Australians are diagnosed with a blood cancer. That's one Aussie every 31 minutes.
Unfortunately for us our 12 year old daughter, Tianna is one of these Australians. After 2 weeks of unexplained fevers Andrea and I were told on New Year’s Day that our baby girl has Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). As with any cancer patient the doctors informed us that Tianna will undergo multiple rounds of chemotherapy (Chemo) potentially for 6 months and unfortunately for Tianna she will require a Bone Marrow transplant.
As you can imagine it has turned our lives upside down. Tianna's treatment is aggressive and requires her to have lengthy stays in hospital of up to 5 weeks per treatment. Due to a compromised immune system Tianna is very vulnerable to infection, leaving her with limited visitors. The best news received recently, which put a smile on our faces, was that our son Josh is a full Bone Marrow match for his sister. This was great news as a sibling match reduces the risk of rejection, reduces the probability of relapse and a better overall outcome for Tianna.
Tianna mentioned at the start of her treatment “I will be losing my hair, so it is only fair that dad should too”.
We believe as a family and upon the request of my daughter, we will be participating in "The World's Greatest Shave". It makes perfect since that we do so by ensuring that as many people as possible are aware of this disease, the impact it has on a family and close friends. Raising money for research will one day ensure that the treatment becomes shorter, less invasive, and most importantly 100% curable.
Tianna is doing her part in helping with the above, by agreeing to undertake a trial drug, let us all do our part by supporting “The World’s Greatest Shave” by donating a little or a lot, when I shave my hair off. We all hope that this support will one day ensure families are no longer required to go through the unfortunate circumstances that too many families have gone/going through.
As the head of Oncology stated to us, 40 years ago children or adults diagnosed with Leukaemia would not survive, today pending the type of Leukaemia these odds have increase to above 80%. This has only occurred due to drug trials and most importantly people willing to donate, so monies can be spent on research and development. Sadly, an Australian still loses their life to blood cancer every two hours.
So, let us all do our part and support this great cause.
The Delcon Civil Greatest Shave will occur on 26 March, at Delcon Civil's office at 49 Colemans Road Carrum Downs.