{"id":67479,"date":"2023-10-08T06:15:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T06:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordcelnews.com\/?p=67479"},"modified":"2023-10-08T06:15:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T06:15:31","slug":"my-little-girls-life-is-dominated-by-hospital-stays-and-treatment-shes-a-warrior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordcelnews.com\/tv-movies\/my-little-girls-life-is-dominated-by-hospital-stays-and-treatment-shes-a-warrior\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My little girl\u2019s life is dominated by hospital stays and treatment – she\u2019s a warrior\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being told your child has a rare and life-threatening cancer is a parent\u2019s worst nightmare. And that\u2019s exactly how it felt to Gemma Harris, 34, and her husband Rikki, 35, in 2021 when their eight-year-old daughter Freya was diagnosed with Wilms\u2019 tumour, a rare kidney cancer that is diagnosed in around 80 children in the UK are each year. <\/p>\n

After Freya won this year\u2019s Pride Of Britain Child of Courage Award, Gemma tells us, \u201cI\u2019ve found a strength in myself that I never imagined was there.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gemma lives in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, and says, \u201cShe had quite a few symptoms, like a sore belly, she was being sick quite a lot and she\u2019d lost her appetite. She\u2019s normally an energetic, outdoorsy child but was very lethargic. She also had a lump in her belly.\u201d <\/p>\n

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The family was moving house at the time and doctors thought Freya\u2019s symptoms could be stress-induced constipation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt took three or four A&E visits until someone decided to refer us,\u201d says Gemma. \u201cA scan was done and quite quickly everything changed. It went from maybe nothing serious to something very serious in a very short space of time and nothing can prepare you for that.\u201d <\/p>\n

In hospital Freya had a Hickman line inserted to introduce antibiotics directly into her bloodstream. She also had a kidney, and lung and kidney tumours, removed and underwent biopsies and abdominal drains. <\/p>\n

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However, she is just like any other little girl and couldn\u2019t wait to meet Ant and Dec at the awards. She loves to play with Squishmallow toys, but is happiest spending time with her Australian Shepherd puppy, Echo.<\/p>\n

Freya and Echo entered Crufts this year \u2013 and took second place. <\/p>\n

\u201cCrufts was one of the top experiences of my life, let alone her life,\u201d Gemma says. \u201cIt was one of her dreams for at least four years, so to get there within a couple of months of training was a bit of a shock.\u201d <\/p>\n

Freya beamed as she walked across the green carpet alongside her furry companion. Gemma admits, \u201cIt was like our hearts were exploding out of our chest, and seeing Freya cry with happiness. Everything\u2019s just a whirlwind of emotion for us right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds that Freya and Echo have qualified for next year\u2019s Crufts too, but for now, the family is enjoying a little relief between scans and treatments, and enjoying what Gemma describes as a \u201ctaste of normality\u201d. <\/p>\n

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Freya\u2019s tummy tubes, which she refers to as her wigglies, have been removed because of an infection. But this does mean she can enjoy going in the sea, which she\u2019s been wanting to do for a long time. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from the chemotherapy treatment that started on Christmas Eve, 2021. \u201cNot the present you want for your little girl, but looking on the bright side of something so horrific, I guess it was the beginning of her journey to feeling better,\u201d says Gemma. <\/p>\n

She says Freya is very resilient and understood that the doctors were putting the bad stuff in so she would eventually feel better. <\/p>\n

Because of Covid restrictions, Gemma couldn\u2019t be with Freya for her initial diagnosis or during many of her treatments, but she took turns at Freya\u2019s side with her husband Rikki. <\/p>\n

She confesses, \u201cI had an emotional breakdown at home alone while Freya\u2019s dad was with her. I had lots of screams into the pillow and then had to carry on and act normal for the other children.\u201d <\/p>\n

Freya\u2019s seven-year-old brother Lukas and one-year-old sister Arwen helped brighten her up when she suffered from the hospital blues.<\/p>\n

Now, though, the family is holding on to hope after learning that lumps remain on Freya\u2019s lungs, but scans this month will determine whether they are cancerous. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, Freya, her mum and nanny had a special night out at this year\u2019s Pride of Britain Awards at London\u2019s Grosvenor House hotel.<\/p>\n

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An emotional Gemma says, \u201cWe thought the craziness of Crufts had finished \u2013 then we had a telephone call telling us about the Pride of Britain nomination. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor other people to see how amazing she is and recognise that and want to bring awareness to her sort of situation is out of this world. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou just don\u2019t expect things like this for your own children,\u201d she adds. \u201cI\u2019m always proud of her, but to have something like this
is the icing on the cake. It\u2019s just one of those once- in-a-lifetime experiences. I knew if she won she\u2019d have an internal breakdown.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gemma says the entire family \u201call had to find inner strength and support\u201d and that holding on to normality is sometimes the only thing that keeps them going.<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow is never guaranteed so we just try to embrace each moment,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see Freya live her life and grow old. Our daughter is a warrior and such a down-to-earth normal little child. I\u2019m just so glad this whole horrible experience hasn\u2019t taken that part away from her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pride Of Britain Awards With TSB, Thursday 12 October, 8pm, ITV1<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n