Here is Sienna’s story
We are delighted to be sending Sienna for a sleepover at Tiger Lodge – Port Lympne
“Sienna was three years old when she was diagnosed.
Her dad took her to the GP because she was limping. I stayed at home with our son, who was four months old. The GP recommended she go to the hospital just to get checked, and they were happy with her generally. Then, at the very last minute, they wanted some blood tests. I’ll be forever grateful to that doctor for having the confidence to make that last-minute decision.
The blood test came back showing that Sienna had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). Her dad called me, crying down the phone. I’ll never forget that phone call.
Looking back, there had been signs. A few weeks before her diagnosis, Sienna was unusually tired during a trip to Disneyland and spent much of the time in her baby brother’s buggy. It was only after her diagnosis that it all made sense.
I travelled with the baby to the hospital the next day. I spoke with doctors talking about treatment and ports and hair loss and prognosis. It felt like I was in a living nightmare. I didn’t even cry; I completely went into survival mode. Sienna was blissfully unaware of the talks going on around her. She was just happily doing her puzzles in bed. How could she have cancer?
Treatment started right away. She was transferred to St George’s to have her port put in.
The day after her diagnosis, I got a cold, so I had to stay away for two weeks. During this time she had a port put in and started chemo. I think a part of me will always feel guilty about that, even though I knew I had no choice.
She handled everything incredibly well. She really hated cannulas, so she was pleased to have a port, and she quite liked the fuss of all the doctors and nurses. The innocence of a three-year-old.
Shortly after she was discharged from St George’s, Sienna contracted viral and bacterial infections. She was in three different hospitals over five weeks and almost went to PICU. The whole time she just kept doing her puzzles and playing with her baby brother.
It was during this hospital stay that she started losing her hair. I collected it in nappy bags because I couldn’t bear the thought of throwing her hair in the bin.
Thankfully, the wonderful staff at St Peter’s in Chertsey, St George’s and the Royal Marsden in Sutton got her better, and she was discharged again.
After that rough start, the rest of treatment was fairly straightforward. Sienna went into maintenance in January 2025 and started preschool, where she really flourished. She is so confident, and I think all the time she spent with adults between the ages of three and four played a part in that. I’m such a proud mum.
Sienna finished treatment very recently and is looking forward to getting her port out so that she can go to soft play again and eat a Mr Whippy from the ice cream van.
Sometimes the smallest impacts of treatment feel the biggest. Sienna doesn’t mind going to hospital, but she doesn’t like being treated differently from the other children.
The charities that have enabled Sienna to have experiences she otherwise wouldn’t have had have helped make up for some of the things she has missed. She hasn’t been able to go to bouncy castle birthday parties but we will soon be visiting Port Lympne and staying in the Tiger Lodge thanks to Holly’s Heroes.
I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone involved in making a difference for children like Sienna and their families.
One day, when she is older, I can’t wait to tell Sienna about all the kindness she was shown and all the wonderful opportunities that were made possible for her because people cared.”