Kids' Scanner Appeal for The Children's Hospital, Sheffield. BBC Radio Sheffield.

Grace Sellers

Our story starts in the summer holidays of 2008. Grace had completed her first school year and seemed ready for the break - she had been getting very tired, which we had put down to her being one of the youngest in the class and the fact that she was constantly on the go.

During the holidays she wanted to learn to ride her bike without the stabilisers, so we took them off and set her up a small run in the garden with a line of chairs to steady herself.

She was doing really well, but then lost her balance and fell into the chairs and banged her side. She would complain every now and then that her side was hurting and we assumed it was bruising from the bang.

When it got to closer to going back to school she had started to say she had tummy ache and we assumed this was due to having lots of fun and days out and not wanting to go to school.

On the first day back at school she complained of the tummy ache, I took her to school thinking it was first day nerves and it would soon wear off as the day went on.

When I picked her up from school the teacher said she had been complaining of tummy ache all day, but that she had got on with her work and it hadn't seemed to bother her when she was playing.

I brought her home and she looked grey and she said her tummy was really hurting. When I looked at her tummy it was swollen on one side and I immediately called the doctors, who told me to bring her straight in.

When the doctor felt her tummy he just sent us straight to Doncaster Royal Infirmary where we spent a very worried night not knowing what was wrong.

The following morning Grace had an ultrasound scan which revealed a mass in her abdomen. The doctors explained that they were going to send us to The Children's Hospital in Sheffield for further investigation; at this point we were beside ourselves as Grace was in a lot of pain and we were aware that it was possibly cancer.

We waited for the ambulance to arrive, which seemed like forever. Grace was quite excited to be in the ambulance and we laughed and joked on the way.

When we arrived we were told that they suspected that Grace had a cancerous tumour on her kidney, called a Wilm's Tumour, and that she would need a CT scan and a biopsy to confirm this.

We were so shocked but the doctors and nurses were brilliant - they explained that they could treat her and told us how important it was to carry on as normal to help get Grace back on her feet.

On the 4th September 2008 Grace had her CT scan. She was brilliant; she had to lie really still and we joked that she was going into a big spin dryer. The scan confirmed that, as suspected, she had a large tumour on her kidney.

On the 7th September 2008 we managed to get her pain under control and she was able to come home for a couple of hours to celebrate her brother's 3rd birthday.

The following day Grace had a biopsy and we were allowed to come home for a few days. She started to feel better and wanted to go to school to see her friends.

On the Thursday she went into school for a couple of hours and it was great to see her just enjoying herself as normal.

On the Friday it was confirmed that Grace had a Wilm's Tumour and that she would start chemotherapy on the following Monday. On the Monday morning the hairdresser came to cut her hair into a short bob to ease the hair loss; she looked great and that afternoon she was given her first dose of chemotherapy.

She still wanted to go to school and although she was tired she managed to go in on the Wednesday for the school photo and continued to go in when she was feeling well, even if it was only for a couple hours.

Grace continued with an initial four weeks of chemotherapy and she coped with it really well. However, she had a bad reaction to the last dose of the scheduled chemotherapy that made her liver start to fail.

She was really poorly and we were all very concerned, but after four or five days she bounced back. The illness resulted in her losing a lot of weight and she had to have a nasal feeding tube to help her gain weight.

On the 23rd October 2008 Grace had surgery to remove the kidney and tumour; she was actually quite excited to be having it taken out as she knew that it was causing the pain.

The surgery was slightly more complicated than anticipated, as the tumour was attached to her diaphragm and her spleen, which required repairs in order to remove it and hence she spent longer in theatre.

When she returned from theatre after a long operation the surgeon came to tell us that it had been a difficult operation and that Grace had had to have a lot of blood, so she would have to have complete bed rest and be nil by mouth over the next few days.

Just before she left, Grace started to come round; she opened her eyes and said to us "is my tumour out now?" When we replied she made us all laugh by saying "wow that was quick wasn't it?"

She spent the following week on the High.Dependancy.Unit being cared for by a wonderful team of nurses. The surgeons were great - they kept a really close eye on her, even phoning over the weekend. We were amazed by their dedication.

Grace made a good recovery and it was difficult to stop her moving around; she would constantly ask for a ham sandwich over the seven days of nil by mouth! It became a joke because we would ask the doctors every day if she could eat and it was the same answer every day of "no".

Just a week later we got the news that her tumour had contained more aggressive cells than originally thought, and that Grace would need to have a more intensive and longer course of treatment. It would mean three days of treatment every three weeks for about nine months, as well as radiotherapy to the affected area.

Grace then had to go back to theatre on 4th November 2008 to have a port fitted to accept the stronger chemotherapy. By now Grace was used to being in the hospital and was regularly in the playroom and schoolroom.

Grace would always let both doctors and nurses know if she didn't like what was happening. She was due to have three weeks of radiotherapy, so we started to prepare her for it.

She had an initial CT scan to determine where the radiotherapy would need to target. When the radiotherapy started we were more concerned than she was and she bounded in with a big smile; and wasn't nervous at all.

She had chosen a CD to listen to while she was in the room - it was the Disney parade song to remind her that when all her treatment was over we would take her to Disneyland.

It was quite tiring having the radiotherapy every day, but she never complained. Unfortunately, during the last week she got quite poorly as the combination of the chemotherapy and the radiotherapy had took its toll on her blood count, and we had to spend a week in the hospital in the run up to Christmas.

Grace enjoyed the visiting football players and was eager to get better and to be home for Christmas. We did eventually get home on the Friday before Christmas and Grace had a fantastic time.

Since then Grace has learnt to deal with the effects of the chemotherapy and get over the sickness, and has coped really well. She has always wanted to get into school when her bloods have been good and she has been feeling well, although she has had to spend quite a lot of time in the hospital for chemotherapy and the odd illness it has caused.

We have enjoyed lots of days out and have had lots of memorable times when personalities working with the charity have been onto the ward to visit, or when Grace has got involved with the other charity activities.

Grace had what we hope will be her last session of chemotherapy in the first week in August 2009, and will have what we hope will be her last CT scan in September. She will then be monitored closely for the next two years.

She is looking forward to feeling better and being able to enjoy her food again. We are planning to take her to Disneyland very soon and we have booked lots of days out so she has things to look forward to.

We are so proud of how well she has coped with the past year, rarely complaining and never thinking of herself as being unwell.

The Children's Hospital Charity, The Children's Hospital, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TH. Registered Charity No 505002
Tel: 0114 271 7203 W: www.tchcharity.org.uk