Julienne's Journey on Leukaemia Treatment

This is our brave, beautiful 2-year old daughter, Julienne, who has recently been diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

It started out as random fevers, loss of appetite, and a random rash covering her whole body, to eventually displaying what appeared to be a sore shoulder with the ever-present fevers that lead us to ER for the third time in a week to work out what was wrong. Eventually the blood test results returned the diagnosis we never ever dreamed of.

Since 29 October 2021, we have been living in Westmead, between the Children's Hospital, and Ronald McDonald's House. We are 2.5 months into this journey. Julienne's first operation was to have a Central Venous Line inserted into her chest which allows the chemotherapies access to her main veins and heart. Julienne's treatment plan involves regular lumbar punctures with a high dose of methotrexate chemotherapy inserted into her spine to ensure any cancer lurking in the spine or brain are killed, many different cycles and types of chemotherapy such as Prednisolone steroids, which make her face swell, her appetite and emotions extreme, and her ability to walk, squat, sit or stand reduced to minimal ability and other chemotherapies such as Vincristine, Daunorubicin, Cytarabine, Cyclophosphamide, and an oral tablet 6MP. This is just what she's had in the last 2.5months. There are many more variations of chemotherapy yet to be introduced along her treatment plan. Further to this, Julienne needs to take regular oral medication for protection against fungal and respiratory infections, pneumonia, stomach bugs, just to name a few. All of which her little body can no longer do on its own. These medicines she will need for the next 2+years, along with regular procedures to ensure her organs are still functioning properly.

With all of these life-saving medicines comes other life-threatening situations that we are now faced with. Julienne has suffered urinary-tract infection, perianal sores, and currently, Rhinovirus. The common cold has landed our daughter in hospital for the last two weeks due to blood counts dropping caused by the chemotherapy meaning she has no neutrophils, the infection-fighting cells, to get over a common cold. We have been in hospital since 9 December fighting all of these. Thankfully, and gratefully, we were allowed to go home for 2 days over Christmas, the first time our family has spent at home since diagnosis. It was short-lived as we were back in hospital on 27th December with another fever, and still here, for the month at least. At the moment, Julienne cannot go outside or be near other people who aren't her family.

Julienne's treatment will last for approximately 2 years, however fevers and infections often delay treatment which means it could be longer than expected. We live on the Central Coast, and will be required to travel back and forth on a weekly basis, staying between Ronald McDonald House and the hospital. In early February we are due our second baby girl.

We are starting this fundraiser to assist our family financially with the cost of Julienne's treatment and oral medications, any physio rehabilitation Julienne may need in order to regain the strength in her legs once treatment is over, and everyday expenses such as food, and fuel for when we need to regularly drive home to Central Coast (Westmead Children's Hospital is 75 kms from us). Alexis will be on maternity leave for a year, not knowing when she can return to work while Julienne is completing her treatment. I will also need to take some time off work due to our 2nd baby being born and to be the full time carer of Julienne during her hospital stays. Any financial assistance will greatly help our family get through this difficult time and we thank you in advance for any amount contributed.

Through everything so far, Julienne is still the funniest, cheekiest and cutest little girl on the ward :)

With the sincerest thanks from our family to yours,

The Barredos.