A Cape Town mother whose four-year-old son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia has urged parents to do more research on childhood cancer diagnosis as it is a curable diagnosis.
Peach Davie, 38, says her four-year-old son, Scott, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on April 3, 2023, and before his diagnosis, he was a happy child.
Davie stated that her son's diagnosis altered the trajectory of her family's life because she had to move from Mossel Bay to Cape Town for specialised medical care.
"The treatment is intense because it is aggressive, and the process has been gruelling on us as a family. I was retrenched, and I have to be my son's sole caregiver as my husband and daughter are in Mossel Bay while my son and I are getting treatment here in Cape Town," she said.
Davie went on to say that she wants to be there for parents whose children have been diagnosed, since that is what she needed during this difficult time.
"When I got the news of my son's diagnosis, I was naive, and I needed someone who could tell me that I would be alright. Luckily, there's incredible aggressive treatment, and childhood cancer treatment has changed for the last five years.
"When a child is diagnosed with cancer, parents tend to believe that it's the end of the world, and it is not the end; it actually takes you on a journey of getting to know yourself and a lot of things that you didn't realise about yourself.
"If I could speak to families who are in this situation, I could tell them that it is going to be fine and they need to trust the process. Families need to do as much research as possible about what their child has," Davie said.
She further recalled that in this process, she met several families who were struggling to accept the fact that their child had been diagnosed with cancer.
“I want to break the silence, and I wish there could be financial support for families during the treatment phase, as some families cannot afford to pay for private health care,” Davie said.
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