Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Sarah looks forward to first Christmas cancer-free

Sarah with little sister Kirsty and dog, Spencer
Sarah with little sister Kirsty and dog, Spencer

Ashleigh Barbour

with sidebar

 

They say that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.

And this year’s festivities will be extra special for Isla and David Wiseman after their daughter Sarah was given the all-clear from her gruelling battle with leukaemia.

The now thirteen-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a type of cancer most commonly diagnosed in young children, just days before Christmas 2012.

On Christmas Eve she went into theatre for three hours, where she underwent bone marrow tests to confirm she had cancer.

And on Christmas Day, as she opened her presents, she was given her first bag of chemotherapy.

December 25 that year was spent in a hospital ward at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH) as Sarah’s family tried everything possible to keep a smile on her face.

And the past two Christmases have been filled with challenges of their own as her treatment took its toll.

Three years on, Sarah is now on the road to recovery – and her family are looking forward to their first “normal” Christmas in a long time.

“This year we’re enjoying worrying about silly things, like getting the shopping done on time and getting all our presents bought,” Mrs Wiseman said.

“This is the first year for a long time that Sarah has been well and we’re looking forward to having a very special day.”

Just days before Christmas 2013 Sarah developed pneumonia, which meant she needed an IV drip administered every four hours.

In a desperate attempt to spend some time at home on December 25 and regain a bit of normality, her dedicated parents drove her back and forth to the hospital throughout the day to get her treatment.

“We would race back and watch a Christmas movie, and race back again to open presents under the tree,” Mrs Wiseman explained.

Last Christmas, as she neared the end of her treatment, Sarah developed a horrendous cold – made worse by her weakened immune system – which wiped her out for days.

This Christmas, the Wiseman family, along with little sister Kirsty, hope to spend the entire day together healthy and happy – and Sarah wants nothing more than simply to be at home.

She completed her two year and four month course of chemo in March, and the second year Cults Academy pupil is almost back to school full-time.

“There is no sign of the leukaemia coming back – she gets checked monthly – and we just hope and pray it stays that way,” said Mrs Wiseman.

“Life will never be quite normal again as whenever Sarah has a cough or a cold we will immediately go into panic mode.

“But we are finding our way in our new ‘normal’ life.”