Hadley family receives vital cancer update about Lola for Mother’s Day

Lola Clark, the three-year-old granddaughter of radio legend Ray Hadley, had a bone marrow biopsy this week which found no leukaemia. Her mum Laura shares their brave journey.

Laura Clark paid tribute to the multidisplinary medical team that has been treating her three-year-old daughter Lola for leukaemia. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

It has been the ultimate Mother’s Day gift for radio broadcaster Ray Hadley’s family – a promising update in his granddaughter Lola’s battle with leukaemia.

No cancer cells were detected in the three-year-old’s latest bone marrow biopsy, with the good results received earlier this week by Hadley’s daughter and Lola’s mum, Laura.

“One of the things you realise on this journey is that you take any win you can get,” Laura said from her home in Lake Macquarie.

“The best gift I could ever get is to know that she’s responding to treatment.”

The Sunday Telegraph revealed little Lola’s brave cancer battle after grandfather Hadley shared the news of her leukaemia diagnosis in a heartfelt interview in February.

Earlier this year, Laura and her husband Brad had their lives turned upside down. Lola had been sick for several weeks. She was eating less, sleeping a lot, battling temperatures and didn’t want to go swimming or enjoy the beach over summer.

“I remember sitting in this living room and Lola had woken up with a really spiked temperature. I jumped up and said to my husband, ‘I’ve had enough. I need to know what’s wrong’. Call it mother’s instincts” Laura said.

Laura and Brad Clark with their three-year-old daughter Lola, who had a positive update on her leukaemia battle this week. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

A visit to hospital and subsequent tests revealed Lola had leukaemia and would need to urgently begin chemotherapy, making her one of about 280 young Australians diagnosed with leukaemia every year, according to the Children’s Cancer Institute.

“It’s like a movie when you find out. You think you are watching down on your own body.” Laura said.

“It’s still really raw. I don’t remember much about that day. I remember screaming and saying … no, no.”

Former 2GB host Hadley was playing golf on the Gold Coast when an urgent call came through. He was enjoying his retirement, having only just ended his distinguished career on the Sydney airwaves.

Lola with her mum Laura Clark and grandfather Ray Hadley. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Laura was inconsolable, crying. I got in the car and drove (seven hours) through the afternoon and night to John Hunter Hospital,” Hadley said.

“I don’t wish to embarrass my daughter. I knew she was a good mum, but I didn’t know how good she was until this happened,” he said as tears formed in his eyes at the kitchen table.

“She stuns me every day with her ability. And I’m sure when I’m not around there are moments she breaks down.

“But she just confronts everything and just juggles 48 balls at once.”

Lola’s treatment started immediately. Days at a time in hospital for chemotherapy. Multiple surgeries. Heavy steroids which changed her face and gave her an enormous appetite, often in the early hours of the morning.

“She just kept saying: ‘I’m hungry again’.” Hadley said.

Little Lola in hospital during her treatment for leukaemia. Picture: Supplied.

When we visited the family home this week, Lola was full of energy, giggling and playing with her toys, some from one of her favourite shows Paw Patrol. But she was also carrying a backpack containing a treatment “cassette”, which provides around-the-clock immunotherapy through a tube into a port under her skin.

“That’s the thing about kids … the resilience,“ Laura said. “The way that she has just adapted is incredible.

“I’m not saying it’s easy, there are more days than not when she is getting blood taken … when she cries at me, saying ‘make it stop’.

“It’s hard to tell a three year old that ‘you have to get this done’.”

The domino effect on the Clark family has been significant. Laura describes their home environment as a “lockdown … like we were isolating in COVID”, where sick visitors are ordered to stay away. She had to quit her job, while she and husband Brad are also juggling the needs of their two other children, seven-year-old Ava and one-year-old Remi.

Doting granddad Ray Hadley gets matching facepaint with Lola. Picture: Supplied

“Lola’s older sister, Ava, is in year 1. She’s a highly intelligent girl. But the focus of everyone’s attention is obviously Lola.

“We get scared of the impact it has on Ava.

“Brad and Laura do a sensational job to make sure that’s not the case, as does her grandmother Anne Marie,” Hadley said.

Laura added: “You, as parents, you feel completely alone.

“Despite the love and the outpouring of support — my mum and dad have dropped everything, my brother Daniel and his wife Cass have been phenomenal — no one can understand what it is like to hear that your child has a cancer diagnosis.

“It is a really weird juxtaposition to feel so isolated and alone, yet be surrounded by people in a room who just want to wrap their arms around you.”

Lola Clark during treatment for her leukaemia. Picture: Supplied

Laura took time during our interview to credit the doctors and experts at John Hunter Hospital, including a team of oncologists led by Dr Janis Chamberlain.

“We have our own psychologist, our own social worker, our own child life therapist. We have a music therapist who will come to Lola when we are staying in hospital and play the guitar and sing songs with her. That holistic approach to treatment has really helped her through some dark times” Laura said.

Laura and Brad have also found a new support network from other families with children in their own cancer battles. Although this sometimes creates mixed emotions.

“It becomes a little community within the ward. It can be really jarring at times. But a lot of the mums are in contact now. You can actually talk to them and relate, sit down over a cup of tea and say… what a s***show,” Laura said.

Her husband Brad added: “When you see a new family come in, it makes you relive that initial moment. You know exactly how they feel.

“No one should have to feel like that.”

The update this week for Lola was a huge blessing, and the perfect Mother’s Day gift for Laura and her family.

But there is still hard work ahead. Lola is facing another full year of “rugged” treatment, including more chemotherapy, until it’s hoped the little girl can reach the “maintenance” phase of her condition.

“Milestones for us now will look different. For Lola to be back at daycare would be exceptional,” Laura said. “To be able to go to the park. To go back to swimming lessons, dance lessons.

“Things that seem so far away to us right now will be so special and important when they come.”

Originally published as Hadley family receives vital cancer update about Lola for Mother’s Day