Wish stories

“She woke up for a few nights very sweaty and she had a cold sore on her mouth that didn’t go away,” explained Maria, Arabella’s mum. “In September, her complexion started to go yellow. My auntie was the one who pointed it out and although Arabella was fine in herself, we thought we would get it checked out.”

The doctor also agreed that Arabella’s symptoms didn’t appear concerning but offered the family a blood test to rule anything out. Initially, the family was happy to wait two weeks for the next appointment but after Arabella became lethargic, they squeezed her in for an urgent slot.

“I remember I was on a Zoom meeting at work and I said, ‘hold on, I’ve got a call from the doctor’,” Mum recalled. “They asked me to go straight to hospital to discuss the results and asked me to bring Arabella too. I wasn’t panicking at that stage, as it didn’t cross my mind that it could be anything serious. We didn’t have to wait to be seen, which was odd. They put us in a room and my anxiety was growing because it didn’t seem normal so it must be serious. The lady said she’d explain when my husband got here and we were told from her results that it was pretty clear that Arabella had leukaemia. It was such a shock but I held it together as I didn’t want her to be scared.”

From that moment on, everything changed for the family as they had to adjust from normal daily life to blood tests and chemotherapy appointments.

“I tried to have an open dialogue and explain all the medicines and appointments to her so that she had a level of understanding. She missed her friends and being at school but they were so supportive. They had a mailbox and messages in a bottle where classmates could send her cards so she’d still feel part of her class.” said Mum. “I have two other kids at the same school but Arabella didn't want to come on the school run to pick them up because she didn’t want anyone to see her, as the steroids had caused bloating and she’d lost all her hair.”

Whilst Arabella continues with maintenance treatment, she has fortunately managed to return to school full-time, although she still struggles to sleep at night as a result of spending so much time unwell in hospital.

When she found out she could have a wish, to her family’s surprise, Arabella wished to be a nurse for the day back at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she was treated!

“I wasn’t expecting her to say that, but she’d been playing nurses a lot at home since treatment, putting ports in her sisters’ chests and doing blood tests so it’s nice that she was inspired positively.”

With the hard work of her Wishgranter, and support from the staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital, a whole host of activities was planned – conveniently coinciding with International Nurses Day! Starting with getting her own hospital ID badge, Arabella finally got to spend a day at the famous hospital, without being on the receiving end of treatment.

“On the day, she did all sorts of things, like access a port using a dummy. The play team had prepared teddies and dolls for Arabella and her sisters to ‘draw blood’ from and they all loved it. We also got to meet the scientists, which was absolutely fascinating and look at blood cells under a microscope and see how they store them.” Mum recalled.

The wish felt like a full-circle moment for Arabella and her family, as they got to see behind the scenes of what goes into treating ill children, after coming out the other side. Arabella especially enjoyed practising with ports, as it was something she struggled with when she was in hospital, so she wanted to put her own positive spin on it, reframing her experience of treatment as a fun family memory.