29 September 2023 , 10:58
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A mother shaved off all her hair in an emotional show of solidarity to her daughter as she was diagnosed with cancer - after her puppy jumped on her lap.
Evelyn Thomsen noticed part of her leg had swollen after her pet, Hazel, landed on her. When the problem persisted, her mum Lisa Reimer took her to the doctor's and ultimately a series of tests showed the little girl had cancer - which set her on a course of major medical treatment. She went on to lose her hair during her 14 rounds of chemotherapy following surgery to remove a 10cm tumour in her right leg. The operation was unsuccessful, though, and the brave youngster had to have an above-the-knee amputation.
Her treatment for Ewing sarcoma lasted ten months from start to finish and, though she is now cancer free, the rollercoaster journey was an emotional experience for Evelyn, now 12, her mum and the rest of the family.
Speaking to The Mirror to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Lisa, 45, said: "I think that she was very good about taking it one day at a time because it was very overwhelming to think about more chemo or what might happen the next day. So she's definitely stayed in the moment and dealt with what was immediately in front of her while, I think for us as parents, our minds are going to the future and to worst case scenarios and all those things.
"She just stayed focused on one step at a time but it's certainly had a huge effect and it continues to have an effect. She physically looks different, being in a wheelchair, having lost her hair and kind of being at the centre of everyone's stares and things. I think she she didn't like being out and about. She felt really isolated."
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Lisa, pictured with husband Eddie, Evelyn and their younger daughter Mae, made to decide to shave off her hair just before Christmas 2021So, to help her daughter cope with this, Lisa shaved her hair. The mum, who works in public health, said her daughter wanted the support and saw an opportunity to raise money for charity.
Lisa, who at the time of the cancer journey lived in Aigburth, Liverpool, but moved to the US with her family in the summer, added: "She wanted to do it, basically. It's something that I had offered earlier on when she first had to shave her head but she didn't she didn't want me to. I had kind of offered it in case she felt supported in that way. She didn't want me to do it then.
"But at the end she wanted to and she wanted to do it as part of a fundraiser for a charity that had been supporting us. So that was probably the motivation was was to raise funds for charity. We don’t have control over the treatments, and we don’t have control over how you’re going to respond to or feel with those treatments, but we can do the best for each other.
"I know from Evelyn’s perspective that she wants people to have a bit more understanding of what she’s going through and what those challenges are, and I think I feel similarly... I think the reaction was overall quite positive. I guess I haven't I've never really thought about the reaction but yeah, the reaction seems seem quite positive. I always had short hair anyway, so I felt like you know, it's not a big deal to shave it."
The youngster lost her hair during her 14 rounds of chemotherapy
Evelyn had surgery to remove a 10cm tumour in her right legEvelyn is slowly rebuilding her life after the shock diagnosis, which began with numbness and tingling at the bottom of her foot, in April 2021. A few months later, Evelyn’s then-puppy jumped into her lap, causing Evelyn’s calf to become very swollen. This did not match the low impact injury, and prompted a visit to the local GP, who advised that Evelyn went to A&E. While an X-ray did not show anything out of the ordinary, Evelyn was sent for an ultrasound, which uncovered the 10cm tumour in her leg.
Despite chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery to remove the tumour, the girl needed an amputation. Speaking to Mirror, Evelyn, now 12, said: "I was worried at the time because I didn’t know whether they were removing the tumour or giving me an amputation. They removed the tumour, but a few weeks later they called and said they didn’t get clear margins.
"This meant I had to go back in for an amputation, and at that point I was really angry because I was healing and ready to move on with my life."
The girl had an amputation after the initial surgery proved unsuccessful
Evelyn and her family, who lived in Liverpool before they moved to the US, have been on an emotional journeyRecalling the stressful period of uncertainty in her family's life, mum-to-two Lisa said: "I was personally mentally exhausted by the end of the treatment. Evelyn had a lot of recovery to go through. So I think it was at the end, that things got harder because then it was left to us to figure out 'well what is our what is our life look like now, now that we know that there's an even greater chance of recurrence?'
"Having been through it and we know what that looks like, it's kind of like you being faced more with the reality, whereas in the in the treatment phase, you at least have maybe more hope you know that we're doing all the right things and we're moving in the right direction."
Following her amputation, Evelyn was finally given radiotherapy for the cancer that was discovered in her lungs at the time of diagnosis. She is now on the mend and she and her mum are sharing their story for the Bone Cancer Research Trust’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month campaign this September.
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The global initiative was set-up to raise vital awareness of childhood cancers, with primary bone cancer having a peak of incidence in young people. This rare disease has seen little improvements to treatments and survival rates in the past forty years. Ewing sarcoma is the second most common form of primary bone cancer in children and young adults.