Daphne’s diagnosis and treatment

Janelle lives in Victoria with her husband, Riley, daughters, Briella, eight and Daphne, six.  

In March 2023, Daphne was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic Leukaemia. She was just three years old.  

“Daphne loves playing with other kids but she’s also happy within her own company and is able to entertain herself. She loves doing little drawings and colouring and is great at all kinds of creative things.” 

Janelle and her family were enjoying life and everything had started to fall into place for the family after a challenging few years.  

“My business was taking off and doing really well, I had lots of clients, and I was bringing in a lot more money for the family. My daughter had started kinder and was loving it. We had friends that we were going out and about with and just enjoying summer.” 

A short while later, looking paler than normal, with a few bruises on her little body, Daphne’s teachers had noticed she was a bit tired and wanting to rest more and more. They put it down to starting kinder for the first time and adjusting to a change in routine.  

Then one day Daphne said she had a sore eye. Janelle didn’t see anything was wrong and by the next morning, Daphne’s eye was completely closed and swollen, and she couldn’t open it. The local GP advised Janelle to take Daphne straight to the hospital.  

“The local hospital admitted us. They thought it was Orbital Cellulitis, which they didn’t treat there.  We were transferred to Monash Hospital in Melbourne.” 

After waiting in the emergency department for a few hours, the doctors took the family to the ICU. 

“One of the doctors said, ‘I just want to let you know that the hematologists have looked at your daughter’s recent blood work and they’re very worried.’” 

“Once the shock eased a little bit, it was just my husband and I, and we just completely broke down and were absolute wrecks and crying. It was probably just about the worst day of my life at this point.” 

Daphne started treatment immediately and spent around six weeks in hospital. 

“The hardest part for Daphne was having the medicine administered by a tube into her nose. Every time the nurse had to come and do that, Daphne would lose it. She hated being put to sleep when she had to have her lumbar punctures.” 

“She would ask when she was going home and she sometimes, being so little, couldn’t understand why we couldn’t just go home and see her sister. It was hard to explain to a three-year-old.” 

How did Redkite support their family? 

Janelle recalls how Redkite supported the family in their time of need.  

“I remember a social worker handed us the Red Bag with all those lovely gifts in it to help us, and then she linked us in with Redkite. We were given Coles vouchers so we could buy food and not have too much of an expense there worrying about food. It took the pressure off.” 

Janelle accessed the Redkite Book Club for Daphne.  

“Daphne will often pick a book and say, ‘I want to have a Redkite book tonight’ and she’ll find one with a little red sticker and we’ll read it together.” 

Redkite helped Janelle feel like she was “never fully alone”. 

“The comfort of knowing there’s an extra layer of support with counselling and understanding that, if tomorrow I wake up and something happens, and I have a breakdown, I can reach out to Redkite, and they will support me and my family. It’s comforting, to know you have people in your corner.” 

Life now

Daphne has now finished treatment and rang the bell at hospital in May.  

She’s also back at school, loving her dance classes and swimming lessons with her sister. 

“They love each other. They have their moments where they want to tear each other’s hair out, but they also absolutely love each other and play together really well.”