Five-year-old Darcie can go to school for a few hours a day and still enjoy playing with friends during treatment for cancer – thanks to a specialist wheelchair from Newlife.
Mum Lianne has praised Newlife for providing the wheelchair which stopped them being housebound – and gave her daughter the will to fight.
Darcie went from being happy and healthy to starting chemotherapy for Leukaemia in just one week. Lianne first thought Darcie had a virus when she became weepy and tired after the October half term last year. But she was also limping despite no injury.
Three days later, when night‑time pain began waking her, Lianne and her husband David took Darcie to A&E at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Blood tests revealed a single blastoma – confirming she had cancer.
“Darcie started chemotherapy on the Friday, just one week after her first symptom,” said Lianne.
“It was heart-breaking, like everything was happening in slow motion yet so fast. She did amazingly well and, although we were told to expect a three‑to four‑week stay, she was discharged after nine days.
“As a neonatal nurse practitioner, I knew the first treatment cycle can cause temporary loss of the use of her legs as well as hair loss. But it was devastating when Darcie said her legs ‘wouldn’t work anymore’. Darcie had already had to stop Irish dancing, gymnastics and stage school as she was too weak. But without a wheelchair or buggy that was big enough for her we couldn’t go out, and Darcie – usually a social butterfly – became withdrawn. It was awful.”
Renting a wheelchair would cost £100 per week. But both parents had taken time off work to care for Darcie and Disability Living Allowance would take 25 weeks to assess. Then a fellow school mum told her about Newlife. The charity was able to provide a specialist wheelchair by the end of January. Newlife also arranged an equipment loan in time for Christmas so the family could still celebrate together.
Darcie’s treatment plan will last at least two years. Physiotherapy helps her walk on good days, though not far. On bad days she relies on the wheelchair, which now goes everywhere with her, including school.
Lianne said: “The wheelchair from Newlife gave Darcie the will to fight. It helped her mental health, and ours too, because it meant we could go out again. When you are stuck at home reality feel miles away. The wheelchair isn’t just helping her get around though, it’s her safe space. It’s where she goes to feel better when she feels wobbly.”
“I wish more people new about Newlife, their process was so easy, and they helped when no one else would. When your bucket is full and you’re struggling, when your mental capacity is at max, this is what you need.”