A mother from Birmingham has shared the heartbreaking moment she discovered her five-year-old daughter was battling a rare and life-threatening form of leukaemia, after initially thinking she had a virus.
Initial Symptoms Dismissed as a Virus
Darcia Nolan, from Hall Green, was a typical energetic five-year-old until after the October half-term last year. She became tired, weepy, and developed a limp. Her mother, Lianne Nolan, an advanced nurse practitioner at Birmingham Children's Hospital, initially attributed the symptoms to the exhaustion of a busy week off school.
Lianne explained: 'She's an August baby, and quite a few of them that went back on the Monday after half-term, by Friday are always exhausted. I thought nothing more than that. She had a limp but had no obvious injury.'
On Bonfire Night, Darcia wanted a nap, which was unusual, and Lianne thought she might be coming down with a cold. However, Darcia rallied and enjoyed the Bonfire party. The next day, her leg hurt, and she had a limp. After paracetamol, she complained that her leg 'really hurts.'
A Mother's Instinct
Lianne said: 'You have a normal instinct when your child is really ill but then you rationalise it.' The pain came in waves, and Darcia was up crying in pain on Sunday night. Yet on Monday, she was doing cartwheels in the living room. The pain returned with a slight temperature, pointing towards a virus.
Despite feeling guilty, Lianne took Darcia to A&E at Birmingham Children's Hospital on Monday morning. She said: 'Never in a million years was I thinking this would be what it was.' The medical team was receptive, and blood tests revealed Darcia had cancer – a single blastoma indicating leukaemia.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Her form of cancer, lymphoblastic leukaemia, accounts for fewer than one per cent of all cancers diagnosed, with fewer than 800 cases in the UK annually. Lianne recalled: 'It was like the world stops and it all goes silent.'
Darcia started chemotherapy just a week after her first symptom. Despite expectations of a three-to-four-week hospital stay, she was discharged after nine days. However, the treatment caused temporary leg weakness. Lianne said: 'It was devastating when Darcia said her legs wouldn't work anymore. She went to walk and couldn't walk at all.'
Darcia had to stop Irish dancing, gymnastics, and stage school. Without a wheelchair, she became withdrawn. Renting a wheelchair cost £100 per week, and Disability Living Allowance took 25 weeks to assess. A fellow school mum told Lianne about Newlife, a children's charity that provides equipment for families in need.
Support from Newlife
Newlife lent Darcia a custom-made wheelchair, allowing the family to go out again. Lianne said: 'The wheelchair gave Darcia the will to fight. It helped her mental health, and ours too, because it meant we could go out again.'
Darcia continues chemotherapy, with cycles lasting two years to prevent relapse. She went into remission on Christmas Eve but has 18 more months of treatment. Lianne said: 'She has good days and bad days. She goes to school some days until 12.30pm. She's an absolutely determined little thing!'
A Family's Journey
Darcia's older brothers, Louie, eight, and Dylan, 21, have been amazing. Lianne added: 'Every time there's a new symptom, even normal things remind you our lives are no longer normal. Everyone's life has carried on but ours has stopped.'
A colleague of Lianne, Darren Jones, a critical care ambulance driver at Birmingham Children's Hospital, launched a GoFundMe appeal to send the family to Disney World. He said: 'Darcia deserves the world and just wants to be a Disney princess. Let's make her dream come true.'
You can follow Darcia's journey on her 'Determined Darcie' Facebook and Instagram pages.
