Tough diagnosis
A quake family faces another blow as young son fights leukaemia.
ASHTON FISHER’S birth was a ray of light at a dark time for his family. Just 10 days earlier, his father, Adam Fisher, had died in the collapsed PGC building during Christchurch’s February 2011 earthquake.
In a second blow for the family, 4-year-old Ashton has been diagnosed with leukaemia.
Dressed in a Batman costume, he sits happily beside his mum, Becky Gane, occasionally reaching up to give her a kiss.
He is in Christchurch Hospital’s child cancer ward getting a blood test before another round of chemotherapy treatment.
Gane said her second son’s gentle nature and ability to cope with multiple medical treatments had given her strength.
‘‘It would have been so much harder if Ashton was a different child – it’s like he just knows.’’
Since the diagnosis, Ashton has spent most days at the hospital having intensive steroid and chemotherapy treatments.
Gane said the first signs of the disease began with sore legs after playing soccer, tiredness, and a loss of colour in his complexion.
Since her partner’s death in the quakes, she had often been anxious about something bad happening to Ashton or older brother Jack, 8.
Concerned by Ashton’s continued fatigue and pale colour, she looked up his symptoms on the internet and found they could be signs of leukaemia. A blood test confirmed the diagnosis.
The doctor’s call came while Gane was getting Ashton out of the car at the supermarket.
‘‘I just burst into tears. I didn’t know anything about leukaemia and I thought it was a death sentence.’’
She had since learned the disease was ‘‘very treatable’’, but treatment would last for 31⁄2 years.
Support from her family, Adam’s family, Jack’s school, and the medical team at the hospital had helped enormously, but it had been tough, Gane said.
‘‘I did go through a stage where I thought, ‘why aren’t you here to help me’, but you just have to carry on and get through it.’’
Ashton’s diagnosis came as life had been stabilising for the family.
Gane had started attending exercise classes, was helping out at the school class and thinking about taking up study or getting back in to work.
‘‘We were actually coming to a good place. Jack and I had been having counselling and were thinking of cutting it back.’’
Now the single mum is determined to focus on the positives.
‘‘There are lots of people worse off than me.’’
‘I just burst into tears. I didn’t know anything about leukaemia and I thought it was a death sentence.’
Becky Gane