A Mother’s Story

A healthy, happy child is the goal of every mother.

When our teenage daughter, Harriet, was diagnosed with a variant
of leukemia that had never been seen anywhere in the world, a
whole new level of challenge had arrived: especially for Harriet,
who was faced with a battle for her life.

Her life, at 15, was so full of anticipation - for getting her
driver’s licence; having her first kiss; planning what she
could be when she grew up. It was May, 2002 and I knew
there was something wrong. For a few months she had been
unusually tired and had recurring infections. I thought she must
have mono. It never occurred to me that it could be anything else.
When a blood test showed she had very low counts, we headed
straight for Sick Kids hospital in Toronto.

Just 3 days later, we had a diagnosis - leukemia. 95% of her bone marrow cells were cancerous - that explained the low blood counts. Harriet had AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) with some characteristics of Natural Killer (NK) cell leukemia. Doctors at Sick Kids conferred with researchers around the world, to come up with a course of treatment that could save her life.

Over the next six months, Harriet went through five gruelling rounds of chemotherapy; 72 blood transfusions; countless tests and procedures, and a lot of pain and worry. Supported by the medical world and our friends and families, we felt a sense of hope. You can’t do this alone.

One of the calls we made changed us all. We contacted the Teen Network of the Childhood Cancer Foundation. We found Sarah, an older teen who had gone through treatment for AML. I will never forget the first time I heard her voice on the telephone. She was real. She was alive. After all Harriet was going through, she, too, could survive. Sarah was wondrous, living, breathing proof of that.

As a result of her journey, Harriet has inspired people to do extraordinary things with their lives: train to run marathons; shave their heads; become doctors and paediatric oncologists; and has raised money and awareness that will make a difference for 1500 children in Canada who every year will face what she faced – a diagnosis of cancer.

I share Harriet’s story with you today so that you, too, can make a difference for our children, and their families, and their futures.

Mary Lye

P.S. Harriet got her driver’s licence, attends the University of King’s College in Halifax, and thinks she might become a journalist. As for the first kiss… I’m not telling!