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At not quite three years of age, Jessie Burton is one spirited little battler. Having been diagnosed October, 2008 with retinoblastoma, she's endured painful chemotherapy and the loss of her right eye. And yet, according to her mother Jodi, she's never once complained. Jessie finished up treatment in February, 2009 and has been given the all clear. In Jessie's own words, she's "hanging to get back to pre-school" which she'll do after her next routine scan.
An email to Cure Our Kids from Jodi Burton...
I will never forget the day I received my Survival Kit. It felt like Christmas. We opened ours when we got home and my son Josh was so excited. You see, when we found Jess's tumour it was during the holidays (Monday 13th October) and we were on our way to Movie World then all of a sudden our lives were on the biggest rollercoaster ride imaginable.
Instead of going to the theme park we drove to the Gold Coast Hospital where we met four different eye specialists and then finally an American doctor who basically said: "Your daughter has cancer and will probably lose her eye by the end of the week." A big difference from what we were expecting, along the lines of "she might need some antibiotics and a patch".
He then sent us to Brisbane where we met with Dr Gyles who is a paediatric eye doctor and he confirmed it was cancer. Not once did my six year old son, Josh, ask when we'll be going to Movie World. I think he knew by the tears in our eyes our holiday was over. We drove back that night and arrived home Tuesday lunchtime. Wednesday we went for a catscan and on Saturday Jess lost her eye.
The next day was to be Josh's sixth birthday and I had organised a huge surprise party for him and 20 of his friends at a nearby park. I had to ring all the parents and cancel the party. So poor Josh had his birthday at the hospital with his baby sister.
Jess and I came home again the following Tuesday and Josh's eyes lit up for the first time in I don't know how long to see soooo much stuff in one bag. I know for a fact that both Jess and Josh's favourite thing is the Tom and Jerry DVD - they still watch it today.
You see, you made my son's day and made up for all he had lost. Jess was not the only one suffering and that bag full of goodies was the most exciting thing, besides his mum and sister being home, that Josh had seen in ages.
Thank you for everything you do and please keep up the good work.
All our love,
Jode and the Burtons xxx
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