The mother of a five-year-old girl, whose initial symptoms were tragically mistaken for common pains before a heartbreaking turn of events, has spoken of her disbelief after her daughter received a rare cancer diagnosis.
Madeleine Shipp, 28, a stay-at-home mother-of-three from Essex, described how the news "still does not feel real" after her daughter Aubrey, now six, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).
Aubrey first began complaining of leg pain in January, which was initially attributed to growing pains or a pulled muscle from doing the splits at school.
However, the situation escalated dramatically when Aubrey later woke up covered in "spots" and vomited blood, prompting an urgent rush to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
The five-year-old was subsequently transferred to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where specialists confirmed in April that she had ALL, a rare form of cancer affecting the blood and bone marrow.
Since her diagnosis, Aubrey has undergone intensive chemotherapy and immunotherapy, leading her to miss several months of school.
As she approaches the completion of her second round of chemotherapy, Aubrey is eagerly anticipating a gradual return to the classroom and reuniting with her friends.
Her mother, who herself received treatment at GOSH as a baby, expressed profound gratitude, stating she will be "forever grateful" to the hospital for saving both her and her daughter.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for GOSH… and Aubrey wouldn’t be here without GOSH,” Ms Shipp said.
“There’s no way she would have been able to survive without every single team working together – Broomfield’s prompt diagnosis and then GOSH supplying all the treatments she needed.
“If there are any other parents going through this, please reach out for help.”
Before her diagnosis, Ms Shipp said Aubrey was a “healthy child” and described her as “the one who never got sick”.
The “sassy” six-year-old loves seeing her friends and going to school – and with her favourite subject being science, she hopes to become a scientist when she grows up.
However, in January, Aubrey started complaining of pain in her left leg.
“You take her to the doctors, it’s pain in her leg, she’s five, so she’s growing, right? We just all thought it was growing pains,” Ms Shipp said.
“She actually did the splits at school, so we also thought she’d pulled a muscle in her leg.”
She was referred to hospital for bloods tests, but Ms Shipp said it was “too early” for her leukaemia to be detected.
“She wasn’t showing any of the other symptoms,” Ms Shipp added.
“Lots of children present with losing weight and feeling tired, being ill, but Aubrey just didn’t have that.”
Symptoms of ALL are not always obvious at first, the NHS says, but can include feeling tired or weak, bleeding or bruising easily, looking pale, swollen glands and a swollen tummy.
In April, Aubrey had a distended stomach and her GP said she had a blockage in her bowel and prescribed laxatives.
A few days later, Aubrey woke up covered “head to toe in spots”, with Ms Shipp believing she had measles – a highly infectious viral illness.
Ms Shipp called NHS 111 for advice and, while she was on the phone, Aubrey started vomiting blood.
“I just hung up and rang 999,” Ms Shipp said.
“The paramedics came out and then we were rushed up to Broomfield Hospital.
“We were lucky with Aubrey’s diagnosis, as a haematology doctor was working that day and took one look at her and said, ‘I think I know what the problem is’.”
At the time, Ms Shipp was pregnant with her third child, and she was asked to call Aubrey’s father, Sammy Brock, to join her at the hospital.
Ms Shipp said she “didn’t think anything of it” at first, but when she and Sammy were called into another room, she knew it was “bad news”.
“They said, ‘I’m really sorry, but she’s got cancer, it’s looking like leukaemia’,” Ms Shipp said.
“They said, ‘We can cure your daughter, but we need to get these infections under control, and we need to transfer her to GOSH because she’ll have the best chance there’.
“I was very sad, very confused, and I started crying and shouting.”
Ms Shipp said Aubrey was “so poorly and so vulnerable” and needed a blood transfusion, antibiotics and multiple cannulas inserted, but she was a “real trooper”.
As her condition worsened, she was intubated and sedated, before being taken to GOSH by ambulance – and Ms Shipp said she was “terrified” her daughter would not make it.
“The whole time I’m thinking, ‘Just hold on till we get there. Just wait till we get there. Please, just don’t go whilst we’re in an ambulance’,” she said.
“I can’t thank that team enough. They were all brilliant.”
After Aubrey was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at GOSH and had a bone marrow biopsy, her leukaemia diagnosis was confirmed, specifically B cell ALL.
Ms Shipp said Aubrey was “riddled” with infections, meaning she could not start treatment straight away, but the nurses at GOSH sang her Disney songs and plaited her hair to keep her spirits lifted.
The family were supported by the Play team as well, who arranged for Aubrey to play Pokemon hunting games along the corridors, and Ms Shipp was able to stay in GOSH’s family accommodation.
“I don’t think I would have coped as well as I did if it wasn’t for the support up there,” she said.
Aubrey began chemotherapy around a week after her admission to GOSH, which caused her to lose her hair but, aside from complications such as fluid on her lungs, she started responding well to treatment.
She then underwent immunotherapy, which uses the immune system to fight cancer, and was able to return home in May.
Aubrey is approaching the end of her second round of chemo and will soon move on to maintenance treatment, which will last for a year and a half.
She was in the first months of Year 1 when she was diagnosed, and missed a huge part of her first year of school, but she cannot wait to go back.
Ms Shipp said: “We took her to see her Year 2 teacher, and she cried to him, saying, ‘I want to come back now’.
“She loves it, she thrives off school. She’s got all of her friends there and she’s very engaged in lessons.”
Ms Shipp was treated at GOSH when she was a few months old – although she cannot remember her diagnosis – and said she “wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for GOSH”.
She is determined to raise more awareness of ALL and the “brilliant” teams at GOSH, as they helped to save Aubrey’s life too, and she wants other parents to know “they’re not alone”.
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel real,” Ms Shipp said.
“You don’t think it’s going to happen to you, you don’t think it’s going to happen to your family, you don’t think it’s going to happen to your kids – but it does and it just catches you off guard.
“We are very lucky that we have the NHS in the UK, and we are very lucky that we’ve got hospitals like GOSH that support families as much as they support children.”
Sammy added: “To see Aubrey getting ready to start Year 2 and reunite with her school friends is incredible after everything she’s been through.
“GOSH has been a lifeline for us. The care from the doctors and nurses, and the way the Play team kept her smiling even during the hardest days, is something we’ll never forget.”
To support GOSH Charity’s Build It. Beat It. appeal, which is raising money for a new children’s cancer centre, visit: gosh.org/the-childrens-cancer-centre.
