Virtual Camps Bring Light in Dark Times
A Big Dose of Family Fun
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Nowlan Family
The day Bailey was diagnosed with cancer was like any other. He didn’t feel sick, he was just a bit tired. He had made the soccer team just earlier that day and a week before he was the 9-year-old age champion at cross country.
Bailey’s mother Danielle decided to take him for a blood test for anaemia in case that was causing his tiredness. Everything felt normal until they got a call that night. Bailey needed to go straight to the emergency room and after another blood test they were given heartbreaking news. Danielle says,
“It was acute myeloid leukemia. If you don’t catch it before 12 weeks, it’s not a good prognosis. Luckily, we caught it at 8 weeks. That day he started treatment. He was in surgery by 11 the next day. And chemo that afternoon.”
Baily and his mum were in isolation from there on. Bailey underwent a bone marrow transplant, donated by his younger brother. Danielle says,
“When Bailey and I were in the bone marrow transplant room there was months where I didn’t see my other kids except for at Camp Quality events. Being isolated so much in hospital made it impossible to prioritise doing things as a family. Bailey was separated from siblings for 5 months.”
Camp Quality Family Fun Days gave Danielle the chance to see her other kids in this period of extreme isolation. These events where everything was already organised, paid for, and taken care of meant she could focus on making some happy memories with the rest of her family before going back into isolation at the hospital to stay with Bailey.
Danielle says that Bailey is now 12 and can finally participate in some of these family activities.
“We are currently post bone marrow transplant, so we have a long way to go until we know where we are at with the cancer. But Bailey is out of hospital and has been able to go on some Family Fun Days now. He had a central line in for an extended period of time, meaning he couldn’t participate in some of the physical activities he used to love so much. It makes him feel a bit more normal seeing other families going through the same things he does.”
