Elizabeth Burfitt, 28, was rocking her one-year-old daughter Sophia to sleep in July 2021, when she had a “sinking feeling” in her abdomen.
Her normally vigorous child woman had been lethargic all day, but it surely was her left eye that caught the eye of her mother and father.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Sophia rings the bell to mark the top of remedy.
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Burfitt and her husband Pat, 29, from Sydney, had seen earlier within the day that Sophia’s eye started to “slowly however considerably” bulge.
“I suppose I used to be hopeful that it was one thing innocent like conjunctivitis,” Burfitt tells 7Life.
“But it surely was simply that intestine feeling that I could not shake.”
The subsequent day, the mum took her little woman to the physician, the place Sophia was recognized with conjunctivitis and given medicated eyedrops.
“I used to be so relieved as a result of I did have that intestine feeling that it actually was one thing unhealthy,” Burfitt says.
“I simply pushed (that feeling) apart and trusted the professionals.”
Regardless of the preliminary reduction, Burfitt’s instincts continued to bug her.
“I keep in mind going to sleep and having the sinking feeling and simply figuring out that it simply wasn’t proper.”
For 2 days, Burfitt and her husband continued to manage the attention drops.
However Sophia’s eye was not enhancing and she or he was changing into more and more torpid.
“That is once we took her to the native hospital,” Burfitt recollects.
Due to COVID restrictions, solely Burfitt was allowed to accompany Sophia.
The pair waited for greater than 5 hours to be seen, being “deprioritised a number of occasions”.
Going by means of triage, medical employees stated Sophia was “advantageous” and advised Burfitt she might take her residence.
However the anxious mum insisted they see a physician.
“I used to be continuously advocating,” she says.
“It was actually the start of combating for her life.”
Lastly, Sophia was admitted to the pediatric ward for the evening because of her “lack of fluid consumption”.
“We have been taken severely for the primary time,” Burfitt says.
“I sort of felt just like the burden was taken off me and it was on the professionals now.”
One other physician examined the one-year-old’s left eye and seen it wasn’t dilating.
Sophia was then checked across the clock, with “a number of docs” waking her up to take a look at her eye and verify her imaginative and prescient.
The subsequent morning, Sophia was despatched for an MRI, which took 4 occasions longer than anticipated – and Pat was given a COVID exemption to attend the hospital.
“Issues weren’t trying good,” Burfitt stated.
Prognosis
That night, Burfitt and her husband have been advised a big mass was discovered all through the left aspect of Sophia’s face.
“We have been simply terrified and determined for solutions,” Burfitt remembers.
“(The mass) was extraordinarily massive – it was like a spiderweb.”
The little woman was taken to the Youngsters’s Hospital at Westmead the place she underwent per week of testing, together with a biopsy of the mass.
Throughout this troublesome time, Burfitt came upon her household was going to grow to be just a little larger.
She was pregnant, with Sophia’s now 11-month-old child brother Hamish.
“It was a very complicated time, emotionally,” the mum remembers.
“We did not have a remedy plan for Sophia, so our strategy was to place (ideas of the being pregnant) on the backburner till we knew what we have been doing with Sophia.”
Per week late, Burfitt and her husband acquired the prognosis.
“Time stood nonetheless and truthfully there aren’t any phrases to elucidate these moments,” she says.
Sophia had a Stage 3 germ cell yolk sac tumora malignant tumor of cells usually discovered within the reproductive organs of infants or individuals over 60.
In Sophia’s case, the tumor had fashioned in her face.
There had solely been one different case like Sophia’s on the kids’s hospital.
Regardless of the shock prognosis, Burfitt says there was “reduction within the room” from docs – who stated it might be handled.
Therapy
For six months, Sophia endured 4 rounds of chemotherapy, which left her with nausea and evening terrors.
“It was very exhausting,” Burfitt says.
“Sophia’s life earlier than most cancers was simply so joyful, she actually by no means cried, the distinction was unbelievable.
“Placing her by means of remedy and invasive procedures went in opposition to each pure intuition as a mom.”
However the household was given a significant increase – whereas holding on to a cell IV pole, Sophia took her first steps.
“At that time, we knew the remedy was working. So in a means her first steps have been symbolic of the place we have been going from there,” Burfitt says.
“It was actually a second of hope.”
As Sophia reached the top of her remedy, the household was dealt one other blow – an MRI confirmed a small mass remained.
The little woman was subjected to a “dangerous” five-hour surgical procedure to find out whether or not the mass was cancerous, an operation which might have paralyzed the left aspect of her face.
“This was exhausting however we have been on the level of the journey the place we simply wanted solutions,” Burfitt says.
“Surgical procedure would offer these, so we have been grateful.
“We have been afraid of the dangers (facial paralysis) however had whole belief in Sophia’s unimaginable medical crew.”
Fortuitously, the operation was profitable and the mass was benign.
And, after six months and an intrusive surgical procedure, Sophia rang the bell to have fun the top of her remedy.
Sophia now
Now aged two, Sophia has been in remission since December 2021.
She is a giant sister to Hamish and their “superb little” bond is unbreakable.
“She loves her little brother,” Burfitt says.
Regardless of the lack of imaginative and prescient in her left eye – brought on by her optic nerve being crushed by the aggressive tumor – she’s a wholesome and “actually joyful” toddler.
“She’s an actual homebody, loves her individuals,” her mum says.
Due to her historical past, Sophia has developed a concern of docs – a battle for Burfitt, who has to take her little woman to the hospital month-to-month for blood exams.
“(It) appears fairly a easy step, however for a two-year-old who’s been by means of what she’s been by means of, it is extraordinarily traumatic,” the mum says.
However they’re overcoming life’s challenges and their focus stays on household and love.
“Life is so easy for us now,” Burfitt says.
“When we now have moments the place we fear concerning the ‘little issues’, we remind ourselves that we now have our little woman with us and to give attention to what issues, love and household.
“Life might be so brief!”
Sophia is the face of Australian Cancer Research Foundation’s March Appealwhich helps most cancers analysis initiatives just like the ACRF Worldwide Heart for the Proteome of Human Most cancers (ProCan).
Donate right now to assist make a life-saving distinction to kids like Sophia and their households.
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