Help 2yr old Darcy "Ducky Boy" battle Leukaemia!
Donation protected
Darcy "Ducky" Greenwell was a very happy, healthy & energetic 2 yr old boy up until last Thursday 30th April 2020.
Mum - Madelaine (Maddie) , Dad - Lee and Sister - Ellie May 4yrs old.
On Friday 1st May, Darcy woke up with nothing particularly out of the ordinary, throughout the day he refused a lot of his favourite foods from mum & dad which was a bit strange but he had eaten lots in the days prior so put it down to toddler eating habits.
On Saturday 2nd May, he ate a little bit of breakfast but was a bit quieter than usual. At around 3pm that afternoon they noticed he had a really low grade fever measuring around 37 degrees.
Mum & dad kept an eye on him and gave Darcy some Panadol which bought his temp down a little, they all went to sleep. When they woke up on Sunday Darcy still had a 37 degree temp, so mum gave him some nurofen and which brought it down a little and he peeked right back up.
On Monday 4th May, Maddie tried to make a doctors appointment but being a public holiday made for Tuesday afternoon as it was the earliest they had available.
On Tuesday 5th May, Darcy’s temp climbed to 37.7 in the morning and came down a little with Panadol, before their appointment Darcy was starting to look very flat, when they got to doctors and Maddie explained Darcy’s symptoms and the doctor took his temp and heart rate, the doctor became immediately worried, Darcy's temp had rapidly gone up to 38.9 he had gotten very very pale and was not himself at all. Without hesitation they were told to get in the car and drive straight to the Hervey Bay Hospital emergency department and informed that they knew they were coming. Maddie got Darcy in the car and raced to the hospital at this point she was really worried. By the time they arrived at the hospital Darcy was febrile and almost unresponsive, yes, he had declined that fast. He was taken straight into resuscitation section of emergency where after a few goes they couldn’t find any veins to start an IV so the had to drill through his shin and put one into his bone. After a couple of blood tests the emergency doctors came back to inform Maddie that they are quite sure they knew what it was as only a few things present this way, this rapidly in young children, that being leukaemia. Maddie recalls yelling “what the f” and explaining that it couldn’t be, because he had always been well, and it was only a little fever but declined today! This being a telltale sign for them plus the ‘deranged’ blood results that came back. From this point Maddie hoped and hoped it was only an infection.
Darcy & Maddie were then flown very quickly on a life flight helicopter to Queensland Children’s Hospital (Lady Cilento) in Brisbane, 3 hours from their home in Maryborough. They were taken direct to emergency where Darcy's symptoms were a bit confusing and his blood oxygen saturation kept dropping so he was sent to paediatric intensive care. From intensive care the doctors very promptly sent Darcy to theater to perform a spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy to check for sepsis & confirm a diagnosis. Testing was carried out and they were informed of the results the next day.
On Wednesday 6th May, two year old Darcy Greenwell was diagnosed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). It is the most common type of leukaemia and the most curable in children Darcy's age. Lee & Maddie's little family's whole world had just stopped, how could this be, how could this happen to them?!
Chemotherapy treatment was started immediately the next day Thursday 7th May along with steroids. Mum & Dad have been told that there is no cause to this sort of blood cancer, there is nothing we could have done differently to change the results.
Overall treatment is likely to take around 2+ years with Darcy and Maddie now having to stay in brisbane for the next month minimum. Full time hospital care for at least a week or more, hoping that day 8 results are acceptable enough for them to go to near by hospital accommodation that they have acquired, continuing with hospital appointments three or more times a week.
Darcy boy is already responded positively to treatment with the bad cell number declining already.
Dad & Mum are still processing what has happened but talking about it with family & friends has helped so much. It has assisted them to realise that their new normal is going to look very different for the next few years and that this is now their reality, not a nightmare they can wake up from.
With all this in mind we all need to get behind Maddie & Lee to raise much needed funds to help them pay for all of added costs with Maddie having to stop work and be with Darcy all the time. Costs of Lee travelling to and from Brisbane & Maryborough 1-2 times each week. Costs of finding new ways to entertain Ducky while in isolation i.e. books, certain toys, ipads etc... due to his non existent immune system, he will be unable to go out to play with other children. Costs of having to have groceries delivered to them again due to his isolation needs along any additional out of pocket medical expenses for medication and certain treatments that they will endure moving forward in this time of need.
Lee & Maddie would like to be very clear that any funds donated that are not needed for this battle will be donated to either the Make-A-Wish, Leukaemia or Starlight Foundations as they have already provided them with so many resources and support.
Maddie & Lee will do their best to keep us all updated of Darcy's progress when possible. If you have read all of this, we thank you for your time and your care for Darcy.
Please keep Lee, Maddie & Ellie May in your thoughts.
Lots of love from, Madelaine and Lee's Families.
Mum - Madelaine (Maddie) , Dad - Lee and Sister - Ellie May 4yrs old.
On Friday 1st May, Darcy woke up with nothing particularly out of the ordinary, throughout the day he refused a lot of his favourite foods from mum & dad which was a bit strange but he had eaten lots in the days prior so put it down to toddler eating habits.
On Saturday 2nd May, he ate a little bit of breakfast but was a bit quieter than usual. At around 3pm that afternoon they noticed he had a really low grade fever measuring around 37 degrees.
Mum & dad kept an eye on him and gave Darcy some Panadol which bought his temp down a little, they all went to sleep. When they woke up on Sunday Darcy still had a 37 degree temp, so mum gave him some nurofen and which brought it down a little and he peeked right back up.
On Monday 4th May, Maddie tried to make a doctors appointment but being a public holiday made for Tuesday afternoon as it was the earliest they had available.
On Tuesday 5th May, Darcy’s temp climbed to 37.7 in the morning and came down a little with Panadol, before their appointment Darcy was starting to look very flat, when they got to doctors and Maddie explained Darcy’s symptoms and the doctor took his temp and heart rate, the doctor became immediately worried, Darcy's temp had rapidly gone up to 38.9 he had gotten very very pale and was not himself at all. Without hesitation they were told to get in the car and drive straight to the Hervey Bay Hospital emergency department and informed that they knew they were coming. Maddie got Darcy in the car and raced to the hospital at this point she was really worried. By the time they arrived at the hospital Darcy was febrile and almost unresponsive, yes, he had declined that fast. He was taken straight into resuscitation section of emergency where after a few goes they couldn’t find any veins to start an IV so the had to drill through his shin and put one into his bone. After a couple of blood tests the emergency doctors came back to inform Maddie that they are quite sure they knew what it was as only a few things present this way, this rapidly in young children, that being leukaemia. Maddie recalls yelling “what the f” and explaining that it couldn’t be, because he had always been well, and it was only a little fever but declined today! This being a telltale sign for them plus the ‘deranged’ blood results that came back. From this point Maddie hoped and hoped it was only an infection.
Darcy & Maddie were then flown very quickly on a life flight helicopter to Queensland Children’s Hospital (Lady Cilento) in Brisbane, 3 hours from their home in Maryborough. They were taken direct to emergency where Darcy's symptoms were a bit confusing and his blood oxygen saturation kept dropping so he was sent to paediatric intensive care. From intensive care the doctors very promptly sent Darcy to theater to perform a spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy to check for sepsis & confirm a diagnosis. Testing was carried out and they were informed of the results the next day.
On Wednesday 6th May, two year old Darcy Greenwell was diagnosed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). It is the most common type of leukaemia and the most curable in children Darcy's age. Lee & Maddie's little family's whole world had just stopped, how could this be, how could this happen to them?!
Chemotherapy treatment was started immediately the next day Thursday 7th May along with steroids. Mum & Dad have been told that there is no cause to this sort of blood cancer, there is nothing we could have done differently to change the results.
Overall treatment is likely to take around 2+ years with Darcy and Maddie now having to stay in brisbane for the next month minimum. Full time hospital care for at least a week or more, hoping that day 8 results are acceptable enough for them to go to near by hospital accommodation that they have acquired, continuing with hospital appointments three or more times a week.
Darcy boy is already responded positively to treatment with the bad cell number declining already.
Dad & Mum are still processing what has happened but talking about it with family & friends has helped so much. It has assisted them to realise that their new normal is going to look very different for the next few years and that this is now their reality, not a nightmare they can wake up from.
With all this in mind we all need to get behind Maddie & Lee to raise much needed funds to help them pay for all of added costs with Maddie having to stop work and be with Darcy all the time. Costs of Lee travelling to and from Brisbane & Maryborough 1-2 times each week. Costs of finding new ways to entertain Ducky while in isolation i.e. books, certain toys, ipads etc... due to his non existent immune system, he will be unable to go out to play with other children. Costs of having to have groceries delivered to them again due to his isolation needs along any additional out of pocket medical expenses for medication and certain treatments that they will endure moving forward in this time of need.
Lee & Maddie would like to be very clear that any funds donated that are not needed for this battle will be donated to either the Make-A-Wish, Leukaemia or Starlight Foundations as they have already provided them with so many resources and support.
Maddie & Lee will do their best to keep us all updated of Darcy's progress when possible. If you have read all of this, we thank you for your time and your care for Darcy.
Please keep Lee, Maddie & Ellie May in your thoughts.
Lots of love from, Madelaine and Lee's Families.
Co-organizers (3)
Wayne Greenwell
Organizer
Madelaine Deveny
Beneficiary
Karen Cate
Co-organizer
Lesley Greenwell
Co-organizer