Torquay’s McGowan continues the fight with spirit

A BRAVE Surf Coast is battling serious illness but continues to approach her time at the Royal Children’s Hospital with strength and perseverance.

17-year-old Scarlett McGowan was delivered a big health blow earlier this year after being diagnosed with lymphoma.

The type of cancer was detected following an ultrasound of her stomach and a further CT scan showed the lymphoma was also in her lungs.

The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Good Friday Appeal ambassador suffered full heart failure at only a few months old and received extensive care at the Royal Children’s Hospital as a baby.

She became the first child in Australia at the time to have an ABO mismatch heart transplant – an organ from a donor with a different blood group from the recipient.

Following many years of stable health, her recent decline came as a shock for Scarlett and her family.

Scarlett’s oncologist needed to treat her condition quickly, so while she was ventilated, Scarlett was given two chemotherapy drugs and an immuno therapy medication.

She is now in the oncology ward and has been dealing with a bleed in her bowel.

The brave 17-year-old is stable at the moment and due her third round of chemotherapy next week.

While the journey isn’t over for Scarlett, her mum, Sam, remains positive and incredibly grateful to the RCH team.

“We are so lucky to have such amazing medical care and staff who are dedicated to taking care of our child.

 

“Sharing Scarlett’s story and raising awareness is a small way we can say thank you to the staff at RCH, and to honour her donor. We are looking forward to when we can have Scarlett back home in Torquay.”

Sam and Jon are taking it in turns to stay bed side with Scarlett or be home with Raef, Scarlett’s younger brother.

Jon has his own small business and is now navigating how to juggle supporting the family financially while needing to be with Scarlett in Melbourne.

“I’m doing a lot touching wood that the doctors have it all under control.

“She was really close to being let out last week, and she would have been a patient visiting each day, but then the she started to get a temperature and fevers spiking up to 41 degreees. Then she gets really cold, then hot.

“She’s just had a lung wash to get a sample of the bug to take away and to then get antibiotic. She’s also about to get a PET scan all going well which will show up all the hotspots.

“They’re expecting to need to give her somewhere between six to eight months of chemotherapy.”

Friends have established a GoFundMe page to help the family.

“The one thing Torquay do well is community,” Sam said. “We’ve been surrounded time and time again by amazing people. It really is the true sense of community, and we are very humbled by it all.”

To donate, head to gofundme.com/f/financial-support-for-the-mcgowan-family