IT was a seemingly normal Monday at kinder in January for Nora, when suddenly one of her teachers noticed the four-year-old had a distended abdomen.<\/p>\n
By Thursday Nora had started chemotherapy.<\/p>\n
Her mum, Dana Seeary said it wasn\u2019t something she was expecting, with Nora\u2019s only symptom before the diagnosis being stomach pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is bubbly, she\u2019s energetic, she is your typical four-year-old girl, all the sass and all the opinions,\u201d said Ms Seeary.<\/p>\n
The family had visited the doctor last November where they were informed Nora was constipated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey turned around and said she had faecal loading, and faecal loading wasn\u2019t really present on the X-ray, but apparently that was the most common diagnosis in kids her age,\u201d said Ms Seeary.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday 23 January the Seeary family sat for 13 hours in the emergency department, and this is when they began to realise the gravity of the situation.<\/p>\n
Ms Seeary insisted medical staff give Nora an X-ray and ultrasound.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went up for an X-ray and the doctor said ‘I can\u2019t seem to find her kidney or her spleen’,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point I\u2019m thinking thank god I pushed for more.\u201d<\/p>\n
They were sent to the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital and informed Nora had a 17-centimetre tumour in her abdomen and four smaller ones in her lungs, with a likely diagnosis of Wilms tumour.<\/p>\n
Nora has been undergoing seven weeks of chemotherapy and following this, the large mass along with one of her kidneys will be removed.<\/p>\n
A GoFundMe page was set up by the community to support the Seearys, and it has now raised more than $43,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community has just really pulled together to help our little girl and I can\u2019t thank them enough,\u201d said Ms Seeary.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband is self-employed and I\u2019m on maternity leave, so we had no savings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to have that mentality where I thought people were in it to benefit themselves but since Nora\u2019s diagnosis, I have learnt there are so many beautiful people in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Seeary urged parents to trust their gut and advocate when they know something is not quite right.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said back then to my husband Nick, I feel like it\u2019s more than this,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you feel like it\u2019s not right you do have the right to ask for more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the challenges, Ms Seeary is confident Nora will overcome childhood cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s going to smash that bell, that\u2019s what she tells me all the time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n