‘Don’t pity Layla’
LONEHILL - Sharyn O'Neill of Lonehill has shed light on her daughter Layla's battle with Ependymoma.
Layla’s struggle with the childhood cancer has captured the hearts of Fourways residents but doctors have told the O’Neill family that medically nothing more can be done for her. (‘Brave Layla struggles on’, week ending 4 April).
Yet O’Neill urges the community not to pity her little girl but rather to smile at her and treat her normally.
“It’s worse for Layla to see someone pitying her,” she said. “Rather smile at her and say hello, she loves smiles.”
O’Neill said that people get angry when they see recent photos of Layla because she’s always topless. “I get called a bad mother,” O’Neill said. “People get angry because Layla is so skinny and they assume that she’s freezing cold.”
O’Neill explained that due to the radiation treatment Layla underwent her skin is extremely sensitive and constantly peeling, especially on her torso which is covered in nerve endings. “It’s extremely uncomfortable for Layla to wear clothes,” she said. “Up until recently even bathing her made her very sore.” O’Neill said that even blankets can hurt Layla’s skin so instead she holds her Spiderman bean-bag and a hot water bottle when she gets cold.
O’Neill appealed to the community for suggestions of creams or salves that might sooth Layla’s skin.
“Layla’s scalp is also peeling because of the radiation,” she said. “Sometimes she calls me saying ‘mommy, mommy there are ants all over me!’ and I have to explain to her that its actually just bits of her skin.”
O’Neill has resigned from her job as a hairdresser to spend more time with Layla and raise funds for Ependymoma research.
Her next fundraising event will be a butterfly release on Ependymoma Day which is on 18 April.
The event will be held at Lappies Park in Lonehill.
Details: 079 198 8052; www.facebook.com/raisinghopeforlayla
