When Mia was two and a half, her parents noticed something wasn’t right. Mia stopped eating, stopped talking, and the active, bubbly little girl just wasn’t herself. What seemed like a simple gastro bug soon became a parent’s worst nightmare.
After several visits to their local doctor and hospital, Mia was referred to The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). At this point, she’d been sick for almost a month.
Won and Justin needed answers for their daughter.
Weeks of searching for answers ended with a heartbreaking result: high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer.
“It was surreal,” Mia’s mum, Won, recalls. “We were told the treatment would take at least 18 months. The odds were confronting, but we had no choice but to start.”
Mia began chemotherapy just days after her diagnosis. The treatment was intense, with a major 12-hour-long surgery and high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant.
Each stage brought new challenges and side effects, making it hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“There were moments when Mia was so flat and withdrawn,” her mum says. “She wouldn’t speak, wouldn’t move, and even refused to let us touch her. It was heartbreaking.”
One turning point came thanks to music therapist Mel, who brought a guitar to Mia’s playroom and began to sing. As Mel strummed and sang, for the first time in weeks, Mia looked up and responded.
“That was the first sign of hope,” her mum says. “From then on, music therapy, art therapy and the Comfort First program changed everything. They gave Mia moments of joy and helped her feel safe.”
These programs, alongside the care of nurses and doctors, transformed Mia’s experience. Hospital became a place where she could laugh, play and learn. She even attended kinder sessions, building confidence for life beyond treatment.
The Comfort First program uses play techniques and education to reduce pain and distress during cancer treatment thanks to philanthropic support through The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation from Camp Quality and My Room Children’s Cancer Charity.
Today, Mia is four years old and in remission. She’s cheeky, determined and full of life.
While her recovery continues, she’s running, playing and dreaming big.
Won says “when we ask what she wants to be when she grows up, Mia says a nurse or a doctor.” “Even with everything she’s experienced, she wants to be like the people who helped her, and make kids feel better.”
For Mia’s family, the journey has been long and difficult, but also filled with moments of hope.
“They say childhood cancer feels like a family cancer,” her mum says. “To see our child so unwell made us feel hopeless. But every smile, every laugh, every moment of happiness, gave us the strength to keep fighting for her.”
