Jessica Wade by her mum Lindsay.
Jessica started being poorly from October 2007, first with flu, then ear infections followed by tonsillitis. This went on for about 3 – 4 months and Jess was continually at the doctors and on antibiotics. It got her down and she soon started becoming increasingly tired and not having the energy to do anything, which really is unlike Jess.
In February 2008 Jess took a turn for the worse, one day at school she was really ill, then she was ill again on the way home from school and that night just lay on the settee and didn’t want to do anything but sleep. Next day we rushed her to the doctors where we was told she had a water infection. That night we couldn’t do anything with her, as she was in agony on her left side and wouldn’t let you touch her and all she did was moan and cry in pain. When you looked at her left side you could see a massive lump and the bottom of her rib cage was starting to be pushed out and you could see the bones through her skin.
That night neither I nor my husband slept as Jess just couldn’t settle and was in agony. Whichever way she turned she cried in pain, it was heart breaking to watch your child in so much pain and not be able to do anything.
We took her to Grantham A&E where she was admitted to the children’s ward, Jess was taken for an emergency ultra sound, and it was there where they found the mass in her left kidney. Her kidney was full of tumour and it was then that we where told that it was likely she had Wilms Tumour. I’d never heard of Wilms or even thought my child would ever get cancer. It was a big shock to the system and a feeling that you can’t explain, that day I cried and cried and walked round the hospital in a blur.
A few days later we where sent to QMC, Nottingham, where they did x-rays, another ultra sound followed by a CT scan.
The CT scan showed another small tumour on her right kidney and the doctors thought Jess had bilateral Wilms. This was confirmed after they did a biopsy.
During all this time Jess had kept her spirits up and was trying to be the happy go lucky little girl that she was and bless her for a 5 year old, she was doing well. Jessica kept me going, as I couldn’t let her see how upset I was. I thought I was going to lose my little girl
Chemotherapy soon started to reduce the size of the tumours, so that when they operated the tumours would be small enough and they could try to save as much of her kidneys as possible.
Chemo made Jess really ill, but she always had a smile on her face, even when she stated to lose her hair and weight. Before her operation to remove the tumours Jess looked like an old lady, with little hair and not much weight on her.
It took over six hours for them to remove her tumours, they removed 80% of her left kidney and 20% of her right kidney. When we thought everything was ok, we was given the devastating news that Jess had cancerous cells on her good kidney (right) and were diagnosed as nephroblastomas.
Jessica had over 18 months of chemotherapy. Chemo made Jess lose her hair; it made her sick and has affected her balance, joints and feet. None of this, however, has stopped her being the amazing girl she is. She has always had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye and has let nothing get in her way.
Jess will always have the nephroblastomas, but the doctors are hoping that due to the extended amount of chemo she had, it has killed the cancer.
Jessica is now 7 yrs old and has been in remission for over a year, she has to go to the QMC every three months to make sure that everything is ok. Fingers crossed it will be.
Lindsay Wade (Jessica Wade’s mum)
