Paula Park had just returned to work part-time when everyone in her family came down with the flu. When three-year-old Charlotte took a while to recover, Paula and her husband Tristan knew something wasn’t right.
“We all got better and Charlotte was still struggling,” says Paula. “She was so tired and was having trouble speaking and walking properly.”
Tristan took Charlotte to their GP who sent her straight to the hospital. Within an hour they were told that Charlotte had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
“When we got told Charlotte’s diagnosis I immediately just said ‘no she doesn’t’, I was in total denial for the next hour or so until it sunk in.”
It all became real when the family went to the Child Cancer Unit in Christchurch Hospital.
“I stopped at the doors and didn’t want to walk in. The nurse told me once you walk through those doors it will all start getting better,” says Paula.
Charlotte started chemotherapy within a week and the family were at the hospital for about six weeks before returning home.
“Once we got home that’s when it became scary because I was the one caring for her. I basically became a full time nurse,” says Paula.
Paula learnt how to manage all of Charlotte’s medications as well as managing the side effects that came with them.
“I had to know when to give her certain medications at certain times to stop side effects like nausea. I also had to learn how to use syringes to administer other medicines,” says Paula.
Paula and Charlotte were in and out of hospital for six months while Charlotte underwent chemotherapy. Paula found it hard trying to comfort Charlotte.
“It was hard for me to tell her things were going to be ok when I didn’t even know myself,” says Paula.
Paula said it was also difficult managing a three-year-old undergoing intensive treatment.
“With a child as young as Charlotte you really do need to be there the whole time. They can forget they have I.V. lines in their arms when they want to jump around when they have the energy,” says Paula.
The Park family have grown closer since Charlotte’s diagnosis with everyone taking on a caring role.
“Charlotte’s sister Grace is only a year older than her and they have a really close bond. Grace tends to Charlotte when she isn’t well and likes to be her nurse,” says Paula.
Although they have been brought closer together Paula says devoting her time to caring for one daughter has sometimes affected her other daughter.
“It was hard for Grace to understand why I was always away with Charlotte as she needed her mum too,” says Paula.
“However when I wasn’t there it meant she got to have a lot of ‘daddy-daughter’ time.”
Charlotte started school in 2015 which Paula says has made her feel like any other normal five-year-old.
“Charlotte hates missing school and always tries to attend daily. She even tries to go the day after she has had chemotherapy although she often only makes it through half the day,” says Paula.
Since starting school Charlotte has had a ‘Monkey in My Chair’ provided by Leukaemia & Blood Cancer which helps her classmates communicate with her when she is not at school. Charlotte takes her smaller monkey with her everywhere she goes.
The Monkey in My Chair programme is designed to keep young leukaemia and blood cancer patients connected to their classmates while they undergo treatment. As a mother with an unwell child, Paula says that the best advice she can pass on to other mums is to take all the support you are offered and to help others in a similar position.
“Don’t be shy around other families and parents on the ward because you are all in the same boat and those are the people who can relate to what you are going through.”