Maria’s Story
Maria was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma in March 2019 at 13-years-old and after three years of treatment sadly died in 2022. Her mum, Leyla, shares her story…
Maria was a strong and beautiful young lady. She had a passion for the environment, loved Mamma Mia, anime, McDonalds and hot chocolate - she also loved her family very much. I am always so proud of her.
We first thought something was wrong with Maria when we got back from holiday and she was feeling unwell, she had a recurring kidney infection, abdominal pain, and a loss of appetite. We first went to the doctors in August and it wasn’t until January, when she had a suspected appendicitis, that anyone tested her further. We eventually received the diagnosis of neuroblastoma in March 2019.
Maria had Stage 4 neuroblastoma, with the primary tumour in the right adrenal gland and widespread bone metastases, in the skull and spine. Over two years of treatment, Maria underwent chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and the Cojec immunotherapy trial. Unfortunately treatment did not work and Maria went into a hospice - we needed to relieve the pain and make her comfortable.
Despite everything she always remained a courageous young girl. Everyone who met Maria said they had never seen such a strong girl and the nurses would tell me how kind she was. She had the loveliest smile and continued to smile even when she was suffering.
Maria was in the hospice for around eight-months, the longest out of any of the patients. By the end she had lost so much weight and sadly died on February 16 2022, just a few days before her 16th birthday.
It is the small things that remind me of Maria - I don’t have McDonalds often but when I do it always reminds me of her as she loved it so much . One of her friends goes every year on her birthday to remember her. I also took part in a 50 mile walk in London alongside some of Maria’s friends which was an emotional and inspiring day.
I one day want to take Maria’s nieces away on holiday. It was always Maria’s dream to have another family holiday away and we never got the chance, so I want to do it in her memory.
I wish my daughter could have been diagnosed early and we need to do more research so less young lives are lost. During her treatment two other teenage girls died from cancer in our hospital alone. I wanted to share Maria’s story as I don't hear about teenage cancer often and yet I have seen so many cases myself. They need to be talked about, cancer is killing too many young people who have their whole lives ahead of them. Neuroblastoma desperately needs more research done so we can get better treatment and no more children have to die from this disease.
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