HAVING one child with cancer would devastate the lives of any family but mum Claire Bicknell faces the horror of two diagnoses.
Her daughters Kaiah, five, and two-year-old Maggie Mae have both beaten totally unrelated versions of the disease – but each faces a high risk of their cancer returning.
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Claire, 36, of Eastwood, Notts, said: “We have been hit by what is literally a stroke of bad luck.
“There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think, ‘Why us? Why my babies?'”
The family were dealt their first blow in July 2019 when Claire became worried about Kaiah’s bloated stomach at five months old.
“It sounds strange but she looked like a little frog,” says Claire. She had her upper body, then she had this very rounded stomach, then her bum and legs.
“Her tummy was always hard and I kept taking her to the GP because instinct told me something was wrong. Then one day I took her out of the car seat and she visibly winced.”
Kaiah was eventually sent to Nottingham’s Queen Medical Centre where paediatricians told Claire her daughter had a childhood kidney cancer called bilateral Wilms tumours.
Claire said: “When the doctors told me I just couldn’t get my head around it. I made this guttural noise that I’ve never heard before, a noise that came right from my gut.
“I was so scared we would lose her.”
‘What have I done?’
Claire and partner Liam, 29, watched helplessly as Kaiah went through a gruelling year of chemotherapy which made her violently sick.
“She was so poorly during chemo that by seven and a half months old, she knew how to grab a sick bowl and vomit in it. It was awful,” said Claire.
Kaiah underwent two operations to remove most of her kidneys and now has the tissue of just one remaining.
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She will need a transplant in the future, and doctors have warned the family there is a 40 to 50 percent chance the cancer will come back, potentially in another part of the body such as the spleen or bladder.
Just as they got used to life looking after Kaiah, Claire fell pregnant with Maggie Mae, who she knew would have Down’s Syndrome at birth.
In July 2022, she gave birth to her bundle of joy who came “kicking and screaming” into the world but, within hours, Claire’s life collapsed for a second time.
She said: “When Maggie Mae was born, the doctors said she was very anaemic and took her away to give her oxygen.
“They came in a couple of hours later to say she had to be ventilated, then again later that morning to tell us she had cancer.
“They had to give my newborn a week of chemotherapy. We had no idea what would happen.”
Maggie Mae was born with a bone marrow condition called TAM (transient abnormal myelopoiesis), which can cause leukaemia.
At one stage, she was so ill that Claire was told to give her daughter a last cuddle because she’d be unlikely to survive but the little fighter pulled through.
SIGNS OF CANCER IN CHILDREN
CHILDHOOD cancer is rare in the UK, with only about one in every 450 children diagnosed by the age of 14, but there are still around five new cases every day.
Cancer symptoms in children can be similar to other illnesses and tricky to pick up as they may not be able to explain how they feel.
Cancer Research UK says red flag symptoms may include:
- An unexplained lump or swelling that does not go away
- Unable to wee or passes blood
- Back or bone pain or pain that wakes them at night
- Seizures or mood or behaviour changes
- Unusual paleness
- Feeling tired all the time
- Unexplained vomiting, fever or breathlessness
- Frequent infections or flu-like symptoms
- Change in the appearance of an eye
- Frequent or unexplained bruising
Cancer Research said the above symptoms are usually caused by something else but should be investigated by a GP if parents are concerned.
Source: Cancer Research UK
She said: “The first thing I said when the doctors told me about Maggie Mae was ‘what have I done?’ I was convinced that I’d done something wrong because I had two children with cancer.
“They said nothing could have been done to prevent either and that it wasn’t my fault.”
Like her big sister, Maggie Mae, who is still tube-fed, faces a risk of the cancer developing again – between 30 and 40 per cent.
While most parents would crumble, Claire and former tree surgeon Liam have tried to remain strong.
Claire said: “There’s many a night I cry but we try to get on with things.
“Liam is an absolute rock and if I’m struggling or having a high anxiety day, he’s always there, reassuring me.
“The way everyone looks at it now is that the girls are here, we’ve had more time with them than we thought we’d have and we live day to day, embracing and loving them.”
The first thing I said when the doctors told me about Maggie Mae was ‘what have I done? I was convinced that I’d done something wrong because I had two children with cancer.
Claire Bicknell
The family are now trying to make memories for the girls’ big brother Jacob, seven, with help from the Family Fund charity.
They have been given grants towards hospital costs and food when Kaiah was seriously ill, a washing machine, garden play equipment and a holiday fund.
Claire said: “If the worst happens we want Jacob to have lovely memories so we’ve had lots of days out as a family thanks to the fund.
“We don’t want his whole life to be about cancer and hospital appointments either and try to have as happy a time as possible.
“With both girls, the hardest thing is not knowing what’s going to happen in the future, so things like the children just playing in the garden together seem magical.”
For more information about the Family Fund log on to: www.familyfund.org.uk
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