Jane's story

“It all happened in February 2008,” says Jane Stanley. “I gave my daughter a cuddle and thought, ‘Goodness, Megan‛s tummy‛s hard‛. So I took her into emergency, where they found a large mass in her abdomen, the day before she turned 10.”

Megan had her ovarian tumour removed and received chemotherapy. The cancer came back so she underwent major surgery, having half her liver removed.
The family are praying that the disease has gone from her body for good, and that she can get on with her life.

“It really knocks these poor kids around,” says Jane. “But Megan‛s courage has
completely blown us away.

“I have a husband and an older daughter, who has just turned 14; it‛s completely turned
our lives upside down. People ask how we cope, and I tell them we just put one foot in front of the other.

“I just get through today; you have to when you‛re dealing with cancer, because it‛s so random and unpredictable. You can‛t plan anything.”

After Megan‛s treatments and a subsequent relapse, Jane put her job as a midwife on
hold, leaving the four-member family with one income. Despite their initial reluctance to
accept help, the family eventually accessed Redkite‛s financial support:

“I‛ve always been a very independent person, I hate accepting help, but we handed a couple of household bills to Redkite. Honestly, I don‛t know what we would‛ve done without that. It made a big difference. Our social worker pointed out that there‛ll be a time in the future we will be able to give back; it was a piece of advice which really helped me.”

Megan has recently been awarded a Lions Children of Courage Award which the family
are very proud of. Jane is also considering participating in a Redkite telegroup.
“Linda from Redkite has been so nice: it‛s so good to have someone who sees it every day. Plus, I keep and use all of the information and items from my Red Bag. It has been a saviour.”