A. Anne and A. James

Here are some pictures taken on the 13th May with Auntie Anne and Uncle James! It has to be said that Anne is actually partly responsible for Francesca's pure love of pink!

May and Maintenance

By week 11 we had just come to the end of the 'consolidation' period. When going into this part of treatment we foolishly believed that it would be easier and less stressful than the first five weeks. This was not true at all - not even close! As I mentioned before the consolidation part of treatment is also referred to as 'intensification' i.e. just as much as before, less the steroids. On one GOS day we left the house at 6.45am and didn't get home until 10pm.

Since the beginning of May life has been sooooo much better for Francesca. The maintenance period of treatment lasts for 8 weeks and comprises of IV chemotherapy once a month at our local hospital and a GA once a month at GOS to administer the chemo into the spinal fluid via a lumber puncture. Francesca had to have a transfusion at the beginning of the month but since then her blood counts have begun to recover and for the first time since diagnosis Francesca has had some level of immune which has been a huge relief.

Two weeks ago she went back to nursery for the first time in three months. She absolutely loved every moment!

Here are some recent pictures that show the lovely Francesca as her normal, crazy self with her friend Eva.

Big John

Big John is Francesca's favourite nurse on Elephant Ward at GOS. He is fantastic, completely crazy and all the children love him. Francesca a couple of weeks ago put a skirt on and asked me if she could wear it for John!!! Sadly he has left now to work at a local hospital in Kent so these were pictures taken on his last day with his biggest fan. He has really helped recently to make Francesca's very very long days on Elephant Ward special.

Princess Francesca

Francesca at the end of April in her princess dress

April and consolidation

Consolidation is the second part of the chemo treatment and still very aggressive. We had to go to GOS every week still but on the 3rd April Francesca had her first central line infection and she needed another blood transfusion. We were transferred by ambulance from GOS to Lewisham hospital for the treatment which was fine it was just a pity as it was Charlie's first birthday so we didn't really get to celebrate it as we would have liked. Francesca had to be an in patient for 11 days but towards the end of that time she was at least able to be at home during the day as she was absolutely fine in herself.

Steriods

The struggle throughout the induction period was the effect the steriods had on Fran. She ballooned, constantly wanted to eat and, I think the hardest part for us was the fact that every day when she woke up she told us how sad she was. She is not even four and was feeling depressed, it really broke our hearts.

Her mood did improve quickly once finished but she has only now (week 11) gone back to 'normal'.

Losing Hair

By week 5 Francesca started to lose her hair so we had it cut first into a bob and then more cropped before it thinned and fell out completely.

We introduced the 'hair fairy', each time hair came out it was put into a little silk bag that was put under Fran's pillow at night. As you can imagine, she is now quite rich!

Induction Period

The induction period of treatment started in Great Ormond Street but as I mentioned, we were able to go home after 11 days. Weekly trips to GOS were for IV chemotherapy along with general anaesthetics for lumber punches - chemo into the spinal fluid. At the end of week 5 GOS carried out another bone marrow biopsy where they use a new technique called MRD to look at the bone marrow and the leukaemic cells and to evaluate whether or not Francesca is at high or low risk of relapse. We felt like we were being prepared for it to be a result of high risk but to our relief she was classed through MRD to be low risk ! Hurrah!! The following link gives more information on MRD testing: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2003/269.

Great Ormond Street

We arrived at Great Ormond Street Hospital just before midnight on the 18th February. The following day, Stuart, Francesca and I met our consultant, Dr Nick Goulden (a fantastic man). He confirmed that she did indeed had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and would start treatment with steriods the following day. Due to her high white cell count, she has been placed on Regimen B of treatment. On the Wednesday she had a big operation to put in a central line in order to give the chemotherapy over the next couple of years and to take bloods etc. She handled everything really well. The steriods and fluids started to work and her white count reduced quickly.

She started the chemo that week too which was really agressive for her but again, she took it in her stride. After 11 days they told us that we would be able to go home and that she would just need to go back to GOS for chemo each week. We were really dreading going home as on one hand we just all wanted to be back together as a family but on the other we didn't want the safety net of GOS to be taken away from us. That and the additional pressure of all the drugs Fran was going to need at home.

Here is a picture of Francesca in the first week of being at GOS.

18th February 2007

Fran had been unwell for a few weeks with one thing or another and the week prior we had taken her to A&E several times as she couldn't stop coughing and we had noticed bruising on her legs and arms.

Our local hospital eventually decided to take blood on Sunday 18th February where they then told us that she had Leukaemia. Further tests would tell us what type but her white cell count was so high that they needed to transfer us to Great Ormond Street Hospital immediately so that she could have a confirmed diagnosis and start treatment. It was the most surreal moment of our lives.

The wonderful Francesca

The wonderful world of Francesca Maria Corp began on 17th August 2003. Francesca is our first child (followed by Charlie last year) and has been an absolute joy. She is a very active girl with lots of opinions and attitude to match! She loves making cakes, running around in the garden with her friends, dancing and singing plus painting, sticking and colouring and lots of pink. She certainly keeps us all on our toes! Our family consists of Stuart, Jayne, Francesca and Charlie along with three cats and we live in Forest Hill, London. Francesca has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.