Florence's Story

Florence has always been a very energetic child. She loves running free in the park and playing with dogs. She is fond of ice cream and lollies!

We were on holiday in Spain with our extended family when she had an ear infection. We took her to A&E and the doctor sent her home with a course of antibiotics. This infection progressed into a nasty throat infection. After three weeks, Florence kept having high temperature and the meds wouldn't help her much. Once we were back in London, we took her again to A&E where they did some blood tests to find out her white cells count was flat. Doctors took further tests to figure out why.

Three days later, Florence had a bone marrow biopsy and this confirmed the worse news. 'I am so sorry but Florence is positive for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia', the heamatologist said. We were gobsmacked. 'Cancer? But she didn't show any signs! She has never been sick before! How come a child can get cancer? What have we missed? Have we done something wrong?' We couldn't understand anything.

Since her diagnosis, life has felt like a rollercoaster. The kind one you feel sick for hours after the ride had finished.

After ten long days in hospital, Florence came back home just in time to celebrate her 3rd birthday with her baby brother. It was a very overwhelming day.

Florence is an absolute legend taking on all the meds, pokes and so on. It is a tough journey and sometimes she finds it hard to express her feelings (mum and dad find that hard too). However, Florence is doing very well and her little body is fighting those nasty cells. She has taught us more than one lesson!

Florence has just finished the frontline of her treatment! We still have 18 months of maintenance but we are sure she will keep fighting like a champ!

We are very grateful to Tom and the Ben Saunders Foundation for this fabulous opportunity. It means a lot to us! A few days to disconnect to reconnect and make precious memories ✨️