A three-year-old girl who has been on chemotherapy for half of her life has finished her treatment – but coronavirus rules mean she has been unable to celebrate.
Little Esmé Lambert from Swaffham, was just one when she was diagnosed with a high-grade form of ependymoma and has undergone 19 months of gruelling treatment.
Now the family is encouraging people to help brain tumour patients by taking part in Brain Tumour Research’s ‘Wear A Hat Day with Flowers’ which takes place on Friday, June 19.
Esmé’s mother, Wendy, 33, said: “My poor baby has been through so much since she was diagnosed as a one-year-old, including surgery to remove the tumour and 56 weeks of intense chemotherapy delivered via five different drug types.
“We never envisaged we would have to deal with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic along the way.
“It meant we had to take our other children Jordan, 16, Lillie, eight and five-year-old Sienna out of school well before they closed so that our whole family could shield Esmé.”
Little Esmé finished her chemotherapy last month, but due to coronavirus pandemic she has been unable to celebrate the momentous occasion by the traditional ringing of the bell.
Mrs Lambert said: “We weren’t able to celebrate by ringing the bell because visitors aren’t allowed on the ward at the moment. Sadly, that will have to wait.
“We are desperate to get back to normality. It will be incredible to be able to take Esmé out to do all the things she has been missing out on and for us all to be together doing fun things as a family.
“Sadly, however it looks like the coronavirus is going to delay this for a while yet, because we have been told that the chemo will continue to compromise Esme’s immunity until November.”
Wear A Hat Day with Flowers takes place during British Flowers Week and Brain Tumour Research is encouraging people to don their flower-decorated hats and get together either virtually or in person adhering to social distancing guidelines and fundraising together or make a donation
Mrs Lambert said: “Wear A Hat Day with Flowers will be a lovely ray of sunshine which Esme and her sisters especially are looking forward to. And we would love it if lots of people could join in with us.”
For information about Wear A Hat Day with Flowers and to register, go to www.wearahatday.org
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