Last March, just days after her fifth birthday, Hannah Parker was diagnosed with a stage four Wilms tumour that spread to her lungs. And this month, her family celebrated her return to Kindergarten classes at Sacred Heart school after several gruelling months of treatment for cancer in Vancouver at B.C. Children's Hospital.
Hannah is thrilled to be back at school, and enjoys her return to independence, said mom, Candace McNamara.
"We got back to Prince George on Dec. 19 and she started school on Jan. 4," said McNamara. "She absolutely loves school. And then she comes home from school and we all play school."
There are three younger sisters at home, Hadley, four and a half, Riley and Roewyn, three-year-old twins.
Hannah is not in the clear yet. She and her mom will be returning to B.C. Children's Hospital on Feb. 22 for a CT scan.
She had her final CT scan on Nov. 24, which showed three nodules in her lungs and a clot at the end of her centre line, which is imbedded in her chest and connected to a major vein to allow chemo treatments to be administered.
There were a couple more weeks of check ups and lab tests left to do, McNamara added.
Depending on what the scan shows, McNamara said Hannah will have to undergo surgery in Vancouver.
"The doctor said they will probably remove the centre line and do some sort of lung biospy and surgery," said McNamara.
McNamara is fretful, especially since Hannah has been a bit more tired lately.
"I hope nothing is going on with her," said McNamara. "It takes five years to be in the clear. She's got a very high chance of relapse because when she was first diagnosed she had so much disease in her system. It wasn't good right off the get go."
It helps that she has had a wonderful oncology team in Vancouver, McNamara said.
"They're just amazing."
A trust fund to help the family with expenses is set up in the name of Candace McNamara at the TD Canada Trust, branch 9352, account number 6235155.
