Brave birthday girl Leva Stewart has been chosen to launch a special awards scheme that recognises the courage of Scots youngsters with cancer.
Leva who turns three on 1st December 2017 after a battle with cancer has endured surgery and chemotherapy to treat a 10cm tumour. Now Leva, who will soon start four weeks of radiotherapy, has received a Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens Star Award for demonstrating remarkable courage during a tough fight back to health. Her parents, Roxanne Hausrath, 30, and Adam Stewart, 30, of Blackford, Perthshire are hugely proud of their little girl.
Roxanne said: “Leva is our star, remaining incredibly bright, bubbly, confident and caring through everything. Our lives changed overnight when Leva was diagnosed with cancer and we had no control over that.
“Leva’s third birthday will be special. It will be a chance to get everyone together who has supported us through the most traumatic year of our lives and say thank you. We’ve had amazing support from friends, family and Leva’s care in hospital has been outstanding.”
Around 130 children are diagnosed with cancer in Scotland every year. During the last 40 years over 15,000 more children in Britain have beaten cancer than would have done if survival had remained the same as in the 1970s. More than 8 in 10 (82 per cent) of children diagnosed with cancer in the UK now survive for at least five years, compared to 4 in 10 in the early 1970s.
Leva’s family know only too well how crucial new developments and breakthroughs are in helping children and adults survive cancer. Dental nurse Roxanne recalls vividly the moment their lives were turned upside down on 26th April this year after an ultra sound scan at Ninewells hospital, Dundee revealed what medics suspected was a tumour in Leva’s abdomen.
Roxanne said: “That was the first big shock. We’d taken Leva to the doctor as her tummy had swollen up and was hurting her. She’d even started holding her tummy to support it like a pregnant woman would do when she went to pick something up. I’d noticed the veins in her tummy were really extended and blue which raised alarm bells for me too.”
Leva was sent to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh for more tests. Roxanne who was due to celebrate her 30th birthday on April 30 cancelled all birthday plans as they faced a nerve wracking week long wait for test results. On 8th May, the family returned to hospital and were told that Leva had rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer which affects particular types of muscle cells. In children, it occurs most frequently at around three years of age and around 60 children are diagnosed with the disease every year in the UK.
Leva started the first of nine cycles of chemotherapy and doctors explained the tumour was getting so large it was pressing on one of her kidneys. Side effects meant Leva lost her hair, was reluctant to eat and felt so unwell she struggled to sit up at all. But it was a hammerblow when a scan after the first lot of chemotherapy showed the tumour had actually grown by 6cm. Surgery was the next step.
Roxanne said: “The doctors explained that the tumour had grown so large in such a short space of time and was now affecting Leva’s kidneys and lungs.
“Leva needed emergency surgery.”
On 27th June, Leva went through the seven hour operation. It was a huge relief when the surgeon explained afterwards that it had been a success and 99 per cent of the tumour had been removed.
Roxanne said: “Leva had been a very strong wee lady all through the surgery. The tumour had been attached to her bladder so they’d had to take a small part of her bladder away but mended it well. They’d only been unable to remove a small part which was attached to her bowel. It was incredible for us to hear that they’d got so much of the tumour out. Leva was out of intensive care in 48 hours and turned a corner treatment wise.
“Very soon she was sitting up in bed, laughing and playing. Now the tumour was gone her tummy was so flat again. She healed brilliantly.”
Now Leva is thriving. She has only one cycle of chemotherapy to go and a recent scan revealed no evidence of cancer in her body. The next step is four weeks of radiotherapy at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. And Leva is set to be at the heart of family celebrations as a flower girl when her parents Adam and Roxanne get married in 2019. Adam proposed to Roxanne on the eve of Leva’s surgery in June as the couple sat fearing for the future.
Roxanne said: “We tried to turn what felt like the worst day of our lives in to a positive.
“Caring for a seriously ill child either makes or breaks you as a couple. Adam has been my rock through the most stressful, traumatic time of my life and I try to stay positive to get him through too. Sadly, every time we go back to the hospital we meet a new family with a child who has just been diagnosed with cancer and has so much of this to come. We’re no experts but are keen to do everything we can to support other families going through it.”
The Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens Star Awards, in partnership with TK Maxx, celebrates the strength shown by young people (aged 0-24) who have been affected by cancer. The awards are open to youngsters who currently have cancer or have been treated for the disease in the last five years. All those nominated will receive a trophy, £50 TK Maxx gift card, t-shirt and certificate.
Now family and friends of young cancer patients and survivors from across Scotland are being urged to nominate youngsters for special recognition in the run up to Christmas at cruk.org/kidsandteens
Leva Stewart of Perthshire who celebrates her third birthday on 1st December has been chosen in Scotland to launch Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens Star Awards in partnership with TK Maxx. Photo Credit: Lesley Martin
Since 2004, TK Maxx has raised more than £32 million for Cancer Research UK’s work through stock and cash donations. Of this, more than £28 million is supporting pioneering research into children’s cancers specifically, and £4 million supporting general cancer research. Their next campaign is Christmas sock day on December 6.
Lisa Adams, spokeswoman for Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens in Scotland, said: “The Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens Star Awards in partnership with TK Maxx recognises young people who have survived or are currently being treated for cancer.
“Our mission is to fund research to find new, better and kinder treatments for children and young people diagnosed with cancer in Scotland, and across the UK. We want to bring forward the day when no young person dies of the disease, and ensure that those who survive, do so with a good quality of life.
“So we’re calling on people across Scotland to nominate inspirational youngsters for this year’s Star Awards so that we can recognise their incredible courage.”
To nominate a child for an award, visit cruk.org/kidsandteens.