During the summer of 2018, Layla’s family went on vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. While there, Layla, who was 11 at the time, started complaining about ear and jaw pain. Assuming it was her 12 year molars erupting, her family didn’t think further about it. But each week the pain became worse, and no molars were coming through. Their dentist was consulted and agreed that emerging molars and a crowded jaw were the culprits. However, the pain was becoming more difficult to manage, and the right side of Layla’s face was starting to become numb. Multiple dentist, orthodontist, and pediatrician visits, plus one ER visit, didn’t help: nobody knew what was wrong.
One morning, Layla woke up with her eye closing shut. Trying not to panic, her family took Layla immediately to the ER. An MRI revealed that there was a mass on her right side, just below her brain. Hospital staff arranged for immediate transfer to London while Layla’s mom went home briefly to pack whatever she could grab to hold them over for a trip to London.
“I remember being in silent hysterics, pleading with God not to take my baby,” she recalls.
Once admitted to LHSC’s Children’s Hospital, a myriad of tests and procedures confirmed that Layla had Stage 4 Orbital Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma, a highly malignant, soft-tissue tumour.
“Hearing my daughter’s name and cancer in the same sentence was gut-wrenching,” says her mom. “We spent months there while Layla had chemotherapy and radiation treatments. In a nutshell, it was hell.”
Once they were sent home, Layla’s treatments continued between Windsor and London. In April, her scans came back clear. Her family was elated that she had responded so well, and that her last frontline treatment was in sight… July!
Unfortunately, the rug was pulled out from under them yet again. Layla had been having headaches, and the day before she was to have her last chemotherapy treatment, they found out she relapsed and a tumour was growing in her brain.
“I won’t delve into details about everything that happened between that moment and when she passed,” says her mom. “It would be giving too much attention to the very thing that has taken two years of my life, and the rest of Layla’s. There were dark days, sleepless nights and many, many tears.”
Layla never let it define her. Right until the end, she continued being her silly, loving, sunshiny self.
“Never for a moment did I look at her any differently. I always saw my little girl.”
Her mom explains the feelings that accompany a childhood cancer journey, and what it means to have support: “When your child is diagnosed with cancer, your entire world is flipped upside down. You feel like you’re suddenly frozen in time and the world continues to carry on like nothing happened. It’s surreal and very few people understand. I remember shortly after Layla relapsed, she began having seizures. Immediately there was a huge team of doctors and nurses I didn’t recognize. I stood outside of her room in shock and saw Renee from Childcan walking towards me. I assumed she was doing her rounds, checking in on families, making sure they had food vouchers and anything else they may need. She quickly clued into what was happening and began explaining to me who was who and what they were doing.
“And then she stayed.
“She stayed by my side because I was alone and terrified, and she had been there. She understood. Suddenly, I knew all the times when she popped in to see us and would say ‘Call me if you need anything’, she truly meant anything.
“I am filled with gratitude for all Childcan has done and continues to do for our family…from the vouchers and parking passes, to the grief support we have now. Childcan truly does care, and Renee’s presence that day will always stand out above and beyond it all.”