Megan was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in November 2019 when she was 16 years old. While her friends were starting their summer holidays, Megan was undergoing tests to confirm her diagnosis and then starting chemotherapy. She went into remission after 5 cycles of chemotherapy in April 2020. Megan returned to school and was back at cheerleading, when she started to notice a few symptoms that she had previously. She was due for tests and we found out she had relapsed in October 2020. Megan endured another 5 cycles of chemotherapy (again over the summer holidays) trying to get into remission prior to her stem cell transplant in April 2021. While Megan’s lymphoma had reduced after changing chemotherapy protocols after her initial two cycles, by the fifth cycle her lymphoma was not responding as well. Megan went to stem cell transplant with cancer and it was hoped that the high dose chemotherapy to prepare for the stem cell transplant, would take care of the remaining lymphoma. Megan’s four to six weeks for stem cell transplant became 12 weeks. Megan’s sister, Erin was her stem cell donor. Megan had to also have a top up meaning Erin had to donate stem cells for a second time, as the first time Megan’s counts failed to recover sufficiently. There were also many complications including Megan ending up requiring oxygen for a couple days, due to a lung infection. Megan’s PET scan was still showing lymphoma. Megan managed to get home at the end of June. The next few months Megan was in and out of hospital with multiple complications, radiation, then more complications. At the end of September, Megan ended up with C. diff (also known as Clostridioides difficile) and admitted to hospital again. Megan ended up retaining lots of fluid and some of the fluid found it’s way to her lungs. Megan ended up in PICU and on a ventilator for just under 24 hours, then on high flow oxygen. A short stay in PICU ended up being 2 weeks before we could return to our oncology ward. Megan lost so much muscle tone and recovery was very difficult as she still had an oxygen requirement for weeks afterwards. A PET scan at this time had Megan in remission as a result of the radiation treatment she’d completed in September. All of us were amazed that this was the case, and Megan was still so unwell. This admission ended up being 11 weeks – Megan attended her year 12 graduations in a wheel chair while still admitted to hospital. Megan got home a couple weeks before Christmas. I forgot to mention that to treat Megan’s lungs they put her on steroids, and Megan who had been suffering from constant nausea since her stem cell transplant, got a reprieve we believe because of the steroids. So she felt like eating and the steroids made her want to eat. Megan managed to stay home until February – she was feeling okay, still working on her strength to be able to walk. Due to all the Covid around, we stayed at home except if we had hospital appointments. In February another PET scan showed her lymphoma was back. We discovered she had a mycobacterium infection in a bone in her foot. This infection treated by taking three strong antibiotics, which seemed to make her nausea return with a vengeance. Every time Megan relapsed they always confirm the diagnosis with biopsy – this time it came back with Grey Zone Lymphoma. Megan’s treatment this time was check point inhibitors which is a type of immunotherapy. This was fortnightly. Megan had to be on the antibiotics for the mycobacterium infection for a minimum of 6 months. Megan had to get her nasogastric tube back, as she was unable to swallow her medications and was having problems with appetite, so she was having some nasogastric feeds as well. Megan continued to be in and out of hospital, though she managed a 7 week block at home in May/June. Megan was admitted on Friday 8 July because she had been having high temperatures for a week. Investigations showed her lungs were infected and on Wednesday morning she suddenly needed a lot of oxygen and was transferred to PICU. Megan wasn’t improving with antibiotics, steroids or other treatments they tried. Megan passed away peacefully outside in the sunshine, surrounded by family, friends and our hospital family on the afternoon of 14 July. She had also been on pain medication as she had liver pain from her lymphoma. Monday she had an ultrasound to check her liver and the Tuesday she had a PET scan. The PET scan showed that her lungs were infected – our oncologist spoke with Megan, myself and Bryan that evening about our possible options, but they started throwing everything at it including steroids, antibiotics and anti-fungals. Wednesday morning Megan suddenly needed more oxygen and was taken to PICU for high flow oxygen. Megan endured so much, but as so many of Megan’s social media followers have told me, she came across as positive and she helped so many others. She wrote ‘The main lesson I have learnt is to “Just keep swimming” (Dory, Finding Nemo). If you don’t keep moving forward and through all those bad things that life throws at you, you will miss all the good that is along the way.‘ Megan used her social media platforms to spread awareness and advocate for childhood cancer and share her story. She started a small business where she donated her profits to the amazing charities that have supported her. Megan has participated in Light the Night since her diagnosis. Help us raise money for research and help those affected by blood cancer in Megan’s name and memory.