Sydney toddler finally allowed hugs after gruelling chemotherapy treatment
Grace Bridges’ is so weak from chemo she can’t afford to catch potentially lethal germs from loved ones. Now she’s taking a break from treatment and wants “lots of squeezes and cuddles”.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Little flame-haired Grace Bridges is battling a rare cancer so aggressive devastated experts gave her just 24 hours to live a year ago.
But the two-year-old’s indomitable spirit is so infectious anyone who meets her instinctively leans in for a hug that she is forbidden from reciprocating since contact with the slightest foreign germ could prove lethal to her fragile immune system compromised by chemotherapy.
Now oncology doctors have taken the tough decision to shelve her treatment for Metastatic Hepatoblastoma for six months to give her organs a break and prevent toxicity meaning Grace can now have a cuddle.
“Clap hands… Does that mean I can now get lots of squeezes and cuddles, mummy?” she asks beaming, knowing she does not have to attend gruelling eight-hour treatments at The Children’s Hospital Westmead.
“She’s so excited at being outdoors, when we took her to the zoo for her second birthday in January we plastered her in sun cream and a put her in a large hat and as soon as people came to the zoo, we left,” her mother Emma Bane said.
“Now she’s getting a break from chemotherapy, she can run outdoors and bathe in the sunlight and get as many cuddles from her friends once she’s strong enough.
“She’s so excited but we’re a long way from coming out of the woods yet, we just want her to lead a happy, normal life and watch her grow up like other children.
“She’s beat it so far, we know her little soul will fight it as hard as it can. Our little red head is full of mischief, full of fire and spirit.”
Once the cancer shows up during the break from treatment, doctors hope Grace will be strong enough to undergo surgery and beat once and for all the child cancer that typically begins in the right lobe of the liver.
Grace, nicknamed ‘Amazing Grace’ due to her courageous spirit, was diagnosed in January last year, when the cancer was so advanced doctors were certain she would not survive the next 24 hours. It had spread everywhere except to her brain, heart, and bones.
She has undergone 70 rounds of gruelling chemotherapy, five surgeries and three life-threatening trips to the paediatric intensive care unit and spent half her short life in hospital.
Childhood cancer rates have risen worldwide, but advances in treatment have seen 84 per cent now survive five years or more. In the mid-1970s, the five-year survival rate was about 58 per cent.
Her parents Emma, an early child care and Adam Bridge, are now raising funds for future chemotherapy trial that could help save her life post-surgery and have moved from Dural to Westmead to be close to the hospital.
The intensity of treatment has left Grace’s scalp and skin inflamed and itchy and they have turned to Australian natural skin care brand MooGoo’s Skin Milk Udder Cream to soothe rashes for relief to her inflamed scalp.
“When Grace first started having chemotherapy her scalp was really dry and itchy, and when we used the Scalp Cream, it cleared her head almost immediately,” Emma said.
“Grace’s cancer markers are not going down, which means the treatment is not working but the cancer is present in her body.
“We hope the cancer will make itself known. Once a tumour shows up, we think it’s around her liver or lungs, surgeons can remove it.
“She loves watching Bluey and Boss Baby and if you call her to come and have dinner and she’s not ready, she shouts out ‘no mummy, wait’.”
“She’s plucky, she makes everyone laugh even she’s feeling drawn and tired from treatment
“She’s come back from the brink two times now, she’ll do it again.”
If you would like to make a donation, you can do so here.
More Coverage
One woman holds the key to solving 50-year-old double murder
It has been 50 years since two nurses, Lorraine Wilson and Wendy Evans, were murdered at the bottom of the Toowoomba Range, and despite two coronial inquests, the answer to who did it lies with a mysterious woman who has never been identified.
Chip off the old block: Down syndrome no barrier for Jagger
Little Jagger Lemmon is loving the water thanks to his new buddy and swimming coach Chip Hanson. The pair, who both have Down syndrome, have an incredible bond.