Chelsea survives acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Chelsea Butterworth was only a year and 10 months old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on September 30, 2019.

This is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow that affects white blood cells. Finally, on October 26, the youngster officially declared the completion of her cancer treatment during the hospital’s ringing of the bell momentous occasion.

The day was rather an emotional one for her parents, Ryan and Nadia Butterworth, who described their daughter Chelsea as a cheerful and brave youngster whose face is always gleaming with a smile.

Leading up to her diagnosis, Ryan said she had been getting sick concurrently and they would take her to the general practitioner more often.

“They would check her and there were no signs of infection, but because she had a very high temperature she took antibiotics but still didn’t get any better. After seeing that her situation didn’t improve, she was then admitted. A formal diagnosis was then done on her and then treatment started almost immediately,” he said.

In the same period when Chelsea had treatment, the proud father-of-four said Covid-19 hit and they took a hard knock from it.

“During this time we took a hard knock, and for nine months one of us was in the hospital with Chelsea and the other parented the other children. My mother also died at the height of Covid-19, and my wife and I also had surgery during this time. We didn’t cook for 60 days and for all those days, someone brought us a meal to help us out,” Ryan said.

He told the Alberton Record the day caused a lot of emotion for them as they have endured hardships throughout their journey and yet still made it out alive.

Ryan thanked the medical team that was behind Chelsea’s recovery and the continued support received from friends, family and fellow congregants.

Dr Tanya Schickerling of Netcare Alberton Hospital said Chelsea handled everything like a ‘superhero’.

“She was strong throughout although the beginning was hard like it always is, but there were happy memories.

I’m grateful that we can say it’s been a long time due to the ringing of the bell. She finished her treatment a year ago and since then she’s been doing extremely well and we pray it stays that way,” she said.

As per custom, the day ended with little Chelsea being showered with gifts and receiving her end-of-treatment cancer champion medal, accompanied by gifts from her doctor and Cupcakes of Hope.