At two years old, Emily was everything a parent could hope for — bright, curious, fearless. She loved playing dress-ups, climbing anything she could reach, and “helping” her mum in the kitchen, leaving floury fingerprints everywhere. To her parents, Sarah and Jay, and her baby sister Sophie, life felt picture-perfect.
“Everything was going really, really well,” Sarah remembers. “It was just a really happy time for us.”
They took family trips to the playground and the zoo, laughed through messy mealtimes, and settled into a rhythm that felt steady and safe. But underneath the joy, tiny signs began to appear — so small at first, no one could have guessed how serious they would become.
The First Signs
Emily began waking up from naps shaking slightly. Each episode lasted only seconds, and then she’d go right back to playing. “We thought she must be cold,” Sarah says. “In hindsight, it was a sign — but we just didn’t know it.”
By September 2024, things changed. The shaking became more frequent. Emily started going to bed earlier, and some mornings she woke up pale and tired. She vomited a few times, but a visit to the GP suggested a simple cold. “None of these things were screaming at us, ‘Something’s wrong,’” Sarah recalls.
Then, her daycare teachers mentioned they’d never seen shaking like Emily’s before. Sarah went to another doctor, only to be told not to worry unless Emily started losing skills.
Two days later, that’s exactly what happened.
“She was trying to eat, and her little hands were shaking so much she could barely bring the food to her mouth,” Sarah says. “That’s when I said — enough. We’re going to the hospital.”
Pleading for Help
At the Emergency Department, after some brief checks, the staff sent them home. “They told me she was fine — that I didn’t need to bring her back unless she couldn’t take care of herself,” Sarah says quietly. “And I kind of let them tell me what I wanted to hear.”
But deep down, she knew something wasn’t right.
The next morning, Emily refused to eat her favorite breakfast — waffles. Then she vomited in the car on the way to the Children’s Hospital. By the time they reached triage, Sarah was in tears. “I just broke down,” she says. “I said, please do something. Anything. This isn’t normal.”
Doctors ran blood tests and admitted Emily overnight for observation. By the next afternoon, she could barely stay awake. Her body seemed weaker every hour.
Then came the MRI.
Two hours later, before Sarah and Jay could even see their daughter, a neurosurgeon approached. “He sat us down and said, ‘We’ve discovered Emily has a major brain tumour,’” Sarah recalls. “It was soul-destroying.”
Surgery and the Shocking Truth
The tumour was larger than a golf ball — closer to the size of an avocado. “When you look at the MRI,” Sarah says, her voice trembling, “her whole brain’s just smushed to the side.”
Emily was rushed into surgery to relieve the pressure. The doctors warned that she might lose movement on the left side of her body. Miraculously, the operation went well, and when Sarah saw her little girl after surgery, Emily was singing. “She was sitting up on the bed, singing songs about her friends,” Sarah says, smiling through tears.
A biopsy revealed the truth — Emily’s tumour was cancerous. She was enrolled in the Zero Childhood Cancer Program (ZERO) for genetic analysis and further guidance.
Fighting for a Future
Emily’s doctors recommended a second surgery to remove what remained. This time, the fear was even greater. “The first time, she was so sick we just wanted her alive. But the second time… she was running and laughing. It was terrifying to hand her over again.”
The surgery was another success. “The neurosurgeon came in and said, ‘Sarah, we got it all. No cancer, no tumour. We got everything.’ It was the best news ever.”
For a brief, shining moment, the family allowed themselves to breathe. But soon after, reality came crashing back.
Doctors began discussing proton radiation therapy, a treatment only available in the U.S. “We thought if they got it all, she wouldn’t need anything else,” Sarah said. “That was a slap back down to reality.”
The radiation could stop the cancer from spreading — but at an enormous cost. “We were told it could seriously affect her brain development. I asked if she could still grow up, live independently, have a job, a family — and they said, ‘We don’t know.’”
Sarah’s voice breaks. “That just didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t want to trade her future for her present.”
A Twist of Fate
Just as they prepared to fly to the U.S., the results from ZERO arrived.
“They told us the tumour was similar to what they’d thought — but rarer,” Sarah says. “There were fewer than 20 known cases worldwide. And in those cases, if the cancer came back, it usually came back in the same spot.”
That one piece of information changed everything.
After long discussions, Sarah and Jay made the hardest decision of their lives: to delay radiation and take the risk that the tumour wouldn’t return soon — or at all. “We wanted to protect her while she was still so little,” Sarah says. “It felt right.”
For months, Emily thrived. She laughed, played, and grew stronger, a carefree toddler once again.
The Cancer Returns
Then came April 2025. A routine scan showed a small growth — the cancer was back.
“It was heartbreaking,” Sarah says softly. “But it hadn’t spread, and that gave us hope.”
Within two weeks, surgeons removed the tumour completely. Against all odds, Emily was climbing and running the very next day. She was discharged 48 hours later — just in time for Mother’s Day.
“Part of us knew this might happen,” Sarah admits. “But we’d hoped it would be years away.”
Now, radiation is unavoidable. Emily will begin proton therapy in the U.S. this July — the same month she turns three.
Hope Lives Here
The road ahead is uncertain, but Emily’s spirit remains unbreakable. “She’s thriving and living her best life,” Sarah says. “She’s cheeky, strong, and full of joy.”
Sarah and Jay hold tightly to gratitude — for ZERO, for the doctors who fought beside them, and for the extra time they gained before treatment began. “If it weren’t for ZERO, she’d have already had radiation that could’ve hurt her development,” Sarah explains. “Now she’s older, stronger, and hopefully better able to handle it.”
Every night, as Emily drifts to sleep, her parents sit quietly by her side, grateful for each breath, each giggle, each day.
“Cancer has taken so much,” Sarah says softly, “but it’s also shown us how strong she is — how strong we all are.”
And as Emily prepares to celebrate her third birthday, one thing is certain:
Her story isn’t one of fear — it’s one of fierce, unstoppable hope.
