There are ways to spot childhood cancer early, and after Megan and Bronson Friedman found out about their daughter’s cancer, they learned everything they could; now, they are sharing what they know.
Johannesburg, South Africa (25 August 2021) – Little Miss Mighty Mack is fighting her childhood cancer like a true champion; she has finished her second round of chemo and underwent a lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy a day later. Now she has started her third round of chemo, which will be for the next 28 days. The hope is that she will be ready for a bone marrow transplant very soon.
As Mackenzie is out of ICU, she has been given more freedom, and her parents get to spend time with her doing normal things, like playing on a playground.
If you are curious about what Megan and Bronson have learned about detecting childhood cancer early, they share their experience below.
“So many people have asked us how we knew that Mackenzie might have had cancer or if she had any early warning signs, so we thought we would share some of the things we have learnt about childhood cancer in the hope that this post could possibly save a life.
The biggest lesson that we have learnt so far is that early detection is key! This is however easier said than done as there are so many different types of childhood cancers – all with varying signs and symptoms.
In our case, there were NO early warning signs (and no family history of cancer). Mack was a perfectly healthy 4-month-old who was meeting all her milestones but who just started sleeping a bit badly for about a week and then got a temperature (38 degrees). We put it down to a 4-month sleep regression and possibly early teething but being first time parents took her to our GP “just in case”. This is where the true magic happened as instead of prescribing antibiotics (as so often happens with undiagnosed childhood cancer) our incredible GP sent us to the paed who (even though she thought it was “overkill”) ordered a full blood count. It was this blood count that detected the cancer cells in her blood. Both of them were concerned that she had a fever with no other symptoms and that is what sounded alarm bells for them.
Because early detection is so unbelievably important, CHOC has developed an early diagnosis tool called The Saint SULIAN Warning Signs. These warning signs are fairly generic but we urge you to keep a look out for them and if in doubt – go that extra mile: ask for those blood tests or that scan: best case scenario you are just slightly out of pocket and your child is fine
The other day we asked our amazing oncologists how they can do this job as it seems to us to be so soul-destroying but their answer to us was “because cancer is one of the only childhood diseases we can CURE – not just TREAT”.
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Help them CURE more of this disease by getting your kids to them as fast as possible by simply keeping an eye out for these early warning signs.”
There is a massive blood, and bone marrow drive happening in Durban this weekend in honour of Mackenzie and to hopefully find her, her perfect match. And if not hers, hopefully, a match will be found for the many children like her, all fighting childhood cancer. You can find out more about the donor drive here.
If you cannot join at the donor drive in Durban, you can find out how to join wherever you are in South Africa below.
How to become a registered donor
- Register Online at www.dkms-africa.org (formally known as The Sunflower Fund) or www.sabmr.co.za.
- You will be notified if you qualify to be a donor by working through their lists.
- No blood or needles involved, just a cheek swab.
- Registering is free of charge.
You can stay updated on her daily progress by following the Mighty Mack Instagram here. The more people who help by registering, the more people who have the chance of saving the life of someone in need of a bone marrow match.
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