Baby girl from Pretoria east suffers huge setback as she fights cancer for third time
Mother Chantal, said that the family is doing everything in their power to help their little girl overcome cancer for the third time. Her surgery was cancelled due to a shortage of ventilators.
A shortage of ventilators due to the Covid-19 pandemic meant a four-year-old “warrior princess” from the east of Pretoria could not get surgery to remove a cancer tumour.
Skylar Meyer, who has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer, was due to have her tumour removed a month ago.
However, the surgery could not take place due to there being no ventilators available, according to her mother, Chantal.
Skylar has had similar tumours removed on two previous occasions.
Earlier this year, she started with chemotherapy after a new tumour was found.
Mother Chantal, said that the family was doing everything in their power to help their little girl overcome cancer for the third time.
“The doctors advised us that Skylar has to go for another two to four sessions of chemo while we wait for the ventilators.
“The chemo hit her body so hard she lost weight,” she said.
She added that once the surgery was done, Skylar will have to get a stem cell replacement where they harvest her own bone marrow.
“These are tough times. According to the doctors, this is Skylar’s last chance. After that, there is nothing more they can do for her,” her heartbroken mother said.
Skylar’s ordeal started on June 27, 2019 when her parents took her to Margate hospital to get her belly button checked due to it changing colour.
After scans and blood tests, a mass was discovered in her abdomen.
She was transferred to Ethekwini hospital and heart centre in Durban for specialist medical attention. She was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit a day later.
The next morning the Meyer family’s world fell apart as they were informed that Skylar has a tumour located inside her kidney, basically confirming she has cancer.
She was then sent for scan after scan, and tests after tests, to determine what kind of tumour it was.
A biopsy, bone marrow and Iobenguane test confirmed that it was stage 2 neuroblastoma cancer where the tumour was actually located outside her kidney. It was a more aggressive kind of cancer, which will be more difficult to treat.
They decided to do surgery on the tumour on July 13, 2019 to try remove it before chemotherapy would start.
However, due to the size of the tumour and because it was too close to her main artery, they had to cancel the procedure and close up to do chemotherapy first to try and shrink the tumour as the risk was just too high.
“We were devastated as the size of the fight was revealed in an instant,” her mother said.
In October 2019 they did another scan to see if the tumour has shrunk. It was found that the tumour had shrunk to a quarter of its original size and they removed it.
“She was in remission in February 2020. We thought the big fight was won and it was all over.”
However, on May 12, they received the devastating news that Skylar’s cancer was back. Now with stage 3 neuroblastoma cancer.
Once again she went into theatre where they did a biopsy and bone marrow test.
They, however, could not remove the tumour as it had grown around blood vessels, and it was not safe to remove it.
Three months later Skylar had her surgery and was out of the theatre and stable.
“We will never give up on our baby girl and will keep fighting alongside her every step of the way. Her courage and bravery is an inspiration to so many. Although she has been through so much, she is always smiling and has the most amazing personality.”
The family took to BackaBuddy to raise funds for her medical expenses and special diets.
They hope and pray to raise R100 000. At this stage, they have raised over R82 000.
“Chemo has affected her taste buds – what she likes today, she might not like tomorrow and that plays a huge financial role.
“Her dietary needs changes every day.”
Anyone who wishes to play a role in Skylar’s road to recovery, can make a donation by going to the BackaBuddy website.
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