ABBEYGAEL Fetalai has endured more in her six years than some people will in a lifetime.
Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when she was three, the Sunshine girl spent two years fighting the disease and six months in remission.
But in May, she relapsed. For mother Malia Silao, the news was devastating.
Abbeygael started primary school this year but may not be able to return until 2013.
“It’s been a rollercoaster,” Ms Silao says.
“We thought she had beaten it the first time around. It’s always in the back of your mind that it could return. You want to move on and put it behind you, but then it happens all over again.”
Ms Silao says the most the most heart-wrenching aspect is that now Abbeygael is older, she’s more aware.
“She asks me all the time why it is happening and when she will get better,” Ms Silao says.
“We still have hope that she will beat it again. She has been so unwell, but she’s still jumping on the trampoline outside and feeding the ducks at the park … she’s amazingly strong.”
Ms Silao says an outpouring of community support had helped her and husband Solo Fetalai through their darkest days.
At a recent trivia night at Abbeygael’s school, Mother of God Primary in Ardeer, more than $3000 was raised.
“We have a great network in the community which has made a really hard time a lot easier,” Ms Silao says.
“People are constantly dropping food over to us and supporting us.”
Abbeygael is undergoing chemotherapy at the Royal Children’s Hospital. The family will find out by the end of the month if she needs a bone marrow transplant.
To help raise money for the Cancer Council, the family will take part in Brimbank’s first Relay for Life on October 27-28. Volunteers can gather a group of friends or family to join in the overnight event, with at least one member on the track at all times.
Money raised will go to help the 726 Brimbank residents diagnosed with cancer each year.
Brimbank Relay for Life chairman Jeff O’Donnell says the event is designed to empower local residents to fight back against cancer.
The relay is at Kevin Flint Memorial Reserve, Cairnlea, from 4pm on October 27 to 10am the next day.
More details: 1300656585 or relayforlife.org.au
