To Chrissie Fitzpatrick, her daughter Zara is the \u201cmeaning of brave\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her \u201csmart, resilient\u201d nine-year-old daughter still bears the marks of a health battle which nearly claimed her life, at the same age other children were learning to walk and talk.<\/p>\n
Fitzpatrick and her husband Ryan initially dismissed their third and youngest child\u2019s gripes when she began complaining of a sore leg in 2019, aged two.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe used to say her leg was sore a lot of the time; we were just thinking it was growing pains,\u201d Fitzpatrick says. \u201cBut then over about a week, for a few days she wasn\u2019t weight-bearing (on the leg) very much at all, and she had a really high fever.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Fitzpatricks took their toddler to hospital, where Zara\u2019s pain was initially diagnosed as a suspected bone infection. But after spending a week there, the family returned for her to have more tests at the request of clinicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first they thought it was a broken femur and a bone infection, because she had all the symptoms,\u201d Fitzpatrick says.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a fever, wasn\u2019t weight-bearing and she was really pale. They did her bloods, they were looking to see what it could be, and they looked and said, \u2018Oh, it looks like it\u2019s leukaemia\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Zara was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive form of blood cancer where the cells in her bone marrow \u2013 which create red and white blood cells and platelets \u2013 multiply uncontrollably, leaving no space for healthy blood cells. <\/p>\n
Fitzpatrick says she struggled to wrap her head around what her daughter was facing. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn some ways it feels so long ago, but otherwise it feels like it was only yesterday,\u201d she says. \u201cWalking out of the doctor\u2019s office, I couldn\u2019t even pronounce (the disease name), like \u2018What was that?\u2019 Everything just came crashing down. <\/p>\n
\u201cZara was a surprise pregnancy, we already had a boy and a girl. I wouldn\u2019t say I\u00a0felt guilty, but when she got sick, part of you always blames yourself, like, \u2018Is it something I did, or maybe because she wasn\u2019t planned.\u2019 It\u2019s fine now, I realise it\u2019s not my fault or anyone\u2019s but it\u2019s something that goes through your head.\u201d <\/p>\n
The family of five\u2019s lives changed rapidly. Zara was moved into Sydney Children\u2019s Hospital to begin four brutal rounds of chemotherapy. She was too young to understand what was happening, so her parents swapped between staying in the hospital for three to four nights each with their little girl, and working and caring for their other children, Sophie and Rory, then aged four and eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cZara spent a lot of time in isolation; she was so little and didn\u2019t understand \u2026 we were just taking it day-by-day, week-by-week, it\u2019s all we could do,\u201d her mum says.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went into remission after the first round, but they do the full four just to be sure it\u2019s gone. The hardest period was where she was in the same room for like three weeks in isolation after treatment. She went a little stir crazy I think. You can imagine being cooped up in a room for three weeks, even though she didn\u2019t feel well, she was ready to get out of there.\u201d <\/p>\n
The toll of treatment on Zara was something the Fitzpatricks couldn\u2019t ignore, with the latter stages of chemotherapy leaving her skin a sunburnt red and swelling her eyes tight shut. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure I knew the meaning of brave until I watched her go through that. Brave isn\u2019t enough of a word, but that\u2019s the best word I\u2019d use,\u201d Fitzpatrick says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were days where I look back and don\u2019t know how we got through it. Those days, they were just really, really hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know of families who have lost their child \u2026 but we just had to focus on the positive and that she would get through it, when there are children that don\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n
Zara found comfort in playing with her older siblings, whose visits to her hospital bed \u201clit her up\u201d, and was allowed to return home to spend Christmas with her family in between rounds of chemo. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe girls are very close, so Sophie used to like coming to the hospital and visiting \u2018Bubby\u2019 \u2013 she calls Zara \u2018Bubby\u2019 \u2013 she\u2019d come and see her, and play with her, and I think that cheered (Zara) up a lot,\u201d Fitzpatrick says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut we also had a good support network around us \u2013 our family, my in-laws \u2013 who helped keep things normal for our other kids. The hospital staff and all the doctors were amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cZara slept a lot so the nurses would offer to keep an eye on her so I could duck out, grab a coffee and take a moment for myself. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut also the other parents with kids in the ward. They knew what it was like, to have someone who knows exactly how you\u2019re feeling. <\/p>\n
\u201cI became friends with one whose son had the same type of cancer as Zara \u2026 he was diagnosed just before us so I would often ask (his mum) questions and find out what to expect; it was so good to have that support. And if we have appointments together, we try and catch up, all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite treatment\u2019s challenges, in early 2020, Zara finished all four cycles and was allowed to go home. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first two years it was hard, every little thing I would freak out about, reaching out to her specialists or GPs,\u201d Fitzpatrick says. \u201cBut as time has gone on, we\u2019ve been able to watch and see how she goes, and she\u2019s doing really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zara, to this day, remains cancer-free. She has grown into an energetic, happy nine-year-old who loves reading and watching YouTube, with her months spent in hospital now all but forgotten.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe remembers being sick. I don\u2019t think she remembers it actually but she\u2019s seen the photos and knows she was very sick,\u201d her mum says. \u201cWe\u2019ve told her she had cancer when she was very little, but we don\u2019t speak about it a lot as it\u2019s something she still can\u2019t quite understand. But as she gets older, we will talk about it more.\u201d <\/p>\n
The impact of her battle still affects Zara every day. Now in Year 4 at school, she is much smaller than her peers, and recently developed alopecia, losing much of her hair. <\/p>\n
But the gutsy girl has again bounced back, taking her differences in her stride by wearing colourful head scarves with pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do have some dark thoughts at the\u00a0time when it\u2019s hard, but for her to come out the other side, it was a blessing,\u201d Fitzpatrick says. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s very resilient, she\u2019s kind of just accepted that she doesn\u2019t have any hair. She\u2019s seen photos of herself where she didn\u2019t have any, so I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s just because of that. <\/p>\n
\u201c(Other kids) can be kind of curious. We\u00a0did have an incident at school where a boy tried to take her scarf off her head. It made her upset but he was spoken to and hasn\u2019t done it again. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut she\u2019s good, she doesn\u2019t (let anything slow her down), she\u2019s full steam ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while Zara\u2019s battle has been won, 20 Australian children are diagnosed with cancer each week.<\/p>\n
The Fitzpatricks hope other children and families won\u2019t have to fight as hard as they did against the disease, and are taking part in Tour de Cure\u2019s Step Out For Cancer fundraising push this month, where participants walk, run or move to fundraise for children\u2019s cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201c(Childhood cancer) needs more funding, better funding for research so they can find better treatments, kinder treatments, as all treatments are designed for adults,\u201d Fitzpatrick says. <\/p>\n
\u201cUntil you\u2019re in that space, ignorance is\u00a0bliss. You don\u2019t think about it if it doesn\u2019t affect you, where the funding is coming from, who is doing the research behind the scenes. But it feels very rewarding to (advocate and fundraise).\u201d <\/p>\n
Zara is an ambassador for Step Out for Cancer 2026, a fun-filled, family event dedicated to fighting childhood cancer on Sunday, October 11. <\/p>\n
Find tickets at stepoutforcancer.com.au <\/a><\/p>\n