On the morning of 19th October 2020 Flora woke up early in the morning complaining of right sided chest pain, saying “my chest feels very funny”.  I placed my hand on her chest where it hurt and there was a loud, audible rattle (later we discovered this was the fluid that had filled the lining of her right lung) I took her straight to our local A&E.

Following x-rays and scans we were transferred to the ward where Drs told me the devastating news that Flora had a very large solid tumour in her chest cavity. The tumour looked like it was coming from her 7th rib and it was totally compressing her right lung, meaning her lung had completely collapsed; she had been walking around for many weeks/months breathing using just 1 lung!

Being so fit and healthy was the main reason she displayed so few symptoms, even the Doctors commented surprise at how well she looked!

I was told by the Doctors pretty much straight away that the tumour was highly likely to be cancer and they suspected it was Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of primary bone cancer, but this couldn’t be confirmed until a biopsy had been done.

From here we were transferred to St Georges Hospital where Flora underwent an operation to biopsy the tumour, she had a PICC line inserted in her left arm and had a bone marrow samples taken from her pelvis.

She was very poorly after the operation which aggravated her breathing and made her feel very nauseous. We had an agonising wait for results and then once her team confirmed it was Ewing sarcoma, she began the first of many rounds of chemotherapy.

Over the course of 10 months Flora endured a gruelling 14 rounds of chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumour. She had all her treatment at Royal Marsden, Sutton.

The treatment was intensive, each time she had chemotherapy she was admitted for either 6 days or 3 days (depending on the cocktail of drugs she was given), then we had just a few days at home to recover before we were back in again for the next round.  

In addition, in-between rounds of chemo, she was regularly admitted to our local hospital to “patch her up” from the side effects of treatment. She required many courses intravenous antibiotics to prevent sepsis and a total of 19 blood transfusions.  All in all, Flora and I (her mum) spent over 100 nights in various hospitals. 

The tumour responded positively to the chemo and on 15th March 2021 she had major thoracic surgery at The Royal Brompton Hospital, London. The surgery involved a thoracotomy, removing what was left of the tumour as well as having her diseased ribs removed. Small sections of her lung and diaphragm also had to be removed and her chest wall was reconstructed with mesh to protect her internal organs. Immediately following her recovery from the surgery she was straight back to Marsden for more rounds of chemotherapy, plus 5 weeks of daily radiotherapy. 

Unfortunately as Floras treatment took place entirely during Covid, there were long periods where she was separated from her dad and adored 3 siblings, as no visitors were allowed at this time. To see our previously healthy little girl suddenly lose her hair and have to go through this was very harrowing and a worrying time for the whole family.

Flora was amazing, incredibly brave and as well as developing a very expensive taste in “Vans” hats, she always had a big smile on her face throughout her treatment journey, we couldn't be more proud of her! 

Flora completed her treatment in June 2021 and started at secondary school in September 2021 on a full timetable including P.E.

Gradually her confidence returned and she has started horse riding lessons as well as returning to swimming.

She is closely monitored by Royal Marsden and continues to have surveillance MRI scans and x-rays every 3 months.