The mum of a schoolgirl fighting cancer has shared shocking pictures of the brutal treatment she has endured in her battle with the disease.
Sharon McAllister says she could 'smell' cancer on daughter Kaiann weeks before doctors finally diagnosed her with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the Daily Record reports.
Sharon, 36, said: "I explained I thought she was really ill. I could smell a smell from her that I've smelled before from a lady I looked after who had cancer. It sounds crazy but I just couldn't shake this feeling off."
Just a few weeks later after numerous trips to the doctor with Kaiann suffering crippling back pain, medics dealt Sharon and husband Mark, 34, the devastating blow that their wee girl had cancer.
Since then, the brave Rutherglen youngster has undergone gruelling treatments and operations to fight the deadly disease.
The pictures Sharon posted on Facebook show the nine-year-old suffering through chemotherapy, hair loss, blisters and sores in her mouth and weeping wounds during her battle with the aggressive blood cancer.
Sharon says Kaiann has been through a lot but she wanted to share the pictures to highlight September's Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
She said: "Kaiann became very unwell, she took reaction after reaction, she became unresponsive, had to have 1 to 1 care, she's had clots on her lungs and her brain, caused by a chemotherapy drug.
"She has slight memory loss and now struggles with spelling, something she was very good at. She has anger out bursts and mentally scarred by the trauma.
"She lost the ability to walk and had to use a wheelchair for months, and learn to walk again. She has no reflexes.
"She couldn't eat for weeks because her mouth was too sore and full of Mucositis that went down into her gut.
"She has fractures on her spine and needs bone infusions to try and strengthen her bones.
"She's had blood transfusions, platelet transfusions and sepsis. Her body is covered in scars, she lost her beautiful long hair and has been left mentally scarred by all of it."
Sharon says she shared the heartbreaking pictures to show people 'the realities of what we are living with' and to encourage more people to donate to childhood cancer charities to help youngsters battling the disease.
Sharon, who had organised a fundraiser, Go Gold Live, at Glasgow's Barrowlands which had to be postponed until August 21 next year, due to Covid-19, said: "Childhood cancer is heartbreaking for all the family.
"She's been to theatre and put to sleep more times than I can remember and it never gets any easier.
"Every blood test is a worry, every lumbar is a worry, every single day is a worry. You see the smiles on Facebook but what you don't see is the hurt the pain and the mental effects.
"It would break you, so just take a minute and think when you sit and moan about life is it really worth that moan?
"Just think how hard life could really be. Be thankful you are not faced with all this."
Sharon says trying to find the words to explain Kaiann's diagnosis to her, when she was just eight at the time, was difficult.
She said: "Explaining to our beautiful girl was heartbreaking, she was scared she asked if she was going to die.
"We didn't have that answer but held her tight and told her no way, not on our watch. She was eight, she was our baby she shouldn't be worried about death.
"Every child's journey with cancer is different no child is the same but every child's journey is extremely hard and heartbreaking for all.
Dr Linda Findlay, medical director, South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “Due to patient confidentiality, we cannot discuss individual patient cases.
“We have not received a complaint from Ms McAllister about any aspect of her daughter Kaiann’s care, however, we would be happy to arrange a meeting with Ms McAllister and her family to address her concerns.
"We would encourage them to contact our patient affairs team to allow us to arrange this.”
.jpg?w=600)
