Learning your child has cancer can be an emotional rollercoaster of shock, anxiety and confusion, but despite this devastating diagnosis, research and clinical trials mean that most children become survivors who lead full and productive lives.

Many parents feel a sense of disbelief when cancer is diagnosed and can then be surprised at how outcomes for children with cancer have continued to improve.

When six-month-old Makayla suddenly lost feeling from her hips down in March this year her mother, Meagan Dodgson, never imagined her baby girl could have cancer.

Makayla was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that causes tumours to develop in nerve tissue following the line of the spinal cord, and had a large tumour in her chest that had fused through her spine. The cancer had spread to her liver, rib, arm and bottom as well. 

Seven rounds of chemotherapy at the Cancer Centre for Children have almost shrunk the tumours enough for surgery, and Meagan is hopeful.

“As long as they’re here and you’re here to fight with them, anything can happen,” she said.

Read how advances in treatment, technology, and research are giving hope to families like Makayla's in “Kid’s get cancer but don’t assume the worst”.