Samantha and Florence’s family story

Florence’s diagnosis

Samantha lives in Sydney with her husband Luke, two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Florence, and one-year-old son Oliver. 

In February 2024, Florence was diagnosed with Wilms tumour, in her left kidney. Samantha was six months pregnant at the time.  

“Florence had just started daycare three days a week and I was freelancing from home as a graphic designer, my husband works shiftwork. We had eased back into what we thought was going to be our new life, and then at the end of February 2024, Florence was diagnosed.” 

Samatha noticed that Florence was getting sick quite easily before she started daycare. They were taking her to the doctor once a week for around two months. 

“Her stomach was protruding but I put it down to having a potential lactose intolerance, but then the daycare staff also mentioned the same thing.” 

After an ultrasound, Samantha was given the scans and told to go straight to the GP who broke the news to the family. Florence would need to undergo treatment and have her left kidney removed. The family went straight to Westmead Children’s Hospital.  

“We were in shock. It was hard to comprehend that this was happening to Florence. She was so young. We questioned it all: ‘Why us? Why our family?’ I’ve just been made redundant, I’m pregnant. The timing was just so bad.” 

“We couldn’t change what was happening. We just had to do what was advised, trusting her Oncology team and adapt as things unfolded.” 

Treatment and hospital life

The family were processing being thrown into a whole new world of hospital life, tests and childhood cancer. 

“I told my mum as soon as we got the diagnosis. We wanted to find out a little bit more information before we told the wider family and daycare. It was really hard to tell everyone.” 

Florence had to go under anesthesia to have a CT and an MRI. Her blood pressure was higher than it should have been, because the size of the tumour was pushing against other organs.  

Florence had four rounds of chemotherapy, one session a week for four weeks, before having major surgery to remove her kidney and the tumour.   

“They found out that the tumour itself, when it was removed, was still 77 per cent cancerous, so the initial chemo that she’d done only killed off 33 per cent of the cancer.” 

Post-surgery, Florence’s next treatment plan involved over eight to ten months of six different types of chemotherapy, given to her every 21 days. 

Florence’s chemotherapy was spread over three days—some weeks she underwent 18 hours of treatment, while other weeks required six hours. On top of that, she needed regular heart and organ monitoring due to the chemo, along with additional blood tests. 

In amongst this, Samantha was due to give birth to her son in the next month. 

“That was another big shock for us because we realised that we had to bring a child into the world while we were also navigating cancer with our other child. It was hard for us to comprehend how that was going to work, but we figured it out.” 

How did Redkite support Florence and her family? 

Samantha was introduced to Redkite when she was given the Redkite Red Bag in hospital. 

“It was exciting because it’s like a gift. It was full of all sorts of goodies, and it ended up becoming quite useful. It fit into our pram perfectly and became our hospital bag, and it stayed packed with everything we needed, in case we needed to go to hospital urgently.” 

Samantha used the Coles grocery and fuel vouchers during their hospital stays. 

“I gave some of the fuel vouchers to my mum as a thank you because she was helping out a lot. There were even vouchers for cafes in the hospital. They were really nice as well and that was a morale booster.” 

Redkite helped pay an electricity bill, taking some pressure off while they were busy caring for Florence and their family. 

While in hospital, Florence took part in the Westmead Story Beads program, where children can share their story of childhood cancer with beads. 

“Florence loved playing with them. They will be a nice reminder for her and us to see how far she has come.” 

Life now

Florence finished treatment in late December 2024 and is now under surveillance. She will have regular check-ups and tests for the next five years post-treatment.  

“Both kids have just started daycare, so that’s kind of a big transition we’re working through at the moment. There’s a lot happening which makes things more exciting.” 

“There’s a quiet comfort in things feeling normal again, and we’re grateful for that.” 

Samantha wants other families to know that it’s important to make the most of the time you have together throughout the childhood cancer journey. 

“At the end of the day you can’t change what’s happening. It’s happening, unfortunately, and you just have to kind of go with it. Make the most of whatever situation you’re in, take photos and videos, treasure the time and memories you create with your family, because in the moment, we often don’t realise how quickly it all goes.”