Chlöe Morton : A Backbone of Steel.
"A backbone of steel” is how Chlöe’s consultant described her during a recent week long stay in the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, whilst being treated for her latest infection, shingles.
Mr Josh Wright, who is vice president of the British Society of Haematology and is Chlöe’s Consultant Haematologist, described her thus to a room of junior doctors and nurses.
He went on to say to Chloe that she needs to “stop just putting up with stuff and getting used to it. You must make more of a fuss!”
In July 2002, when Chlöe was almost two, her mummy Joanne was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Twenty months later, on April 22nd, 2004, her mummy died. Chlöe was three and her big brother Tom was six. The cancer had ripped through Joanne’s body, breast, lungs, brain and ultimately her spinal cord. Sadly, Chlöe has no memories of her mummy.
I raised Chlöe and Tom with help from my family and several other wonderful people.
When Chlöe was 16 she was tested to establish whether or not she had the BRCA gene, which had been her mummy’s downfall. This had hung over me for years like the Sword of Damocles. Imagine the relief when we found out she was clear. “Chlöe’s at no greater risk of cancer than anyone else,“ we were told.
Two years later Chlöe went to De Montfort University, Leicester, to study criminology. Five weeks after arriving we were told that Chlöe had contracted Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Her uni days were over almost as soon as they'd began.
With three courses of chemotherapy proving unsuccessful, the doctors advised the next treatment should be a stem cell transplant. Despite only a 25% chance, we were elated to discover that her big brother Tom was a 10 out of 10 match. Finally some good news!
Please look at my facebook page for the rest of Chlöe's story or email me at ash_morton@hotmail.co.uk.
Many thanks.