Bandanna mania

By Kath Gannaway
THE support of family and community has been a highlight of an otherwise horrendous time for a Healesville couple whose daughter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leuk-aemia two years ago.
Sarah Wandin was just five years old when diagnosed with the disease. Her mother, Nicole Strufer, recalls the emotional devastation when she and her husband, Brendan Wandin, were told Sarah had ALL, and the relief when told it was one of the most common and treatable forms of cancer in children.
Ms Strufer described the support for Sarah as overwhelming, as recently seen when Healesville Primary School parent Louise Farrow organised a Bandanna Day fundraiser, which raised more than $600 for the Cancer Council.
For Sarah, who suffered hair-loss because of the treatment, seeing her classmates wearing their brightly coloured bandannas sent a message that bandannas are cool.
Ms Strufer said while Sarah’s prognosis is for a complete recovery, it has not been an easy journey.
“It has completely changed her life. She was a fun-loving little girl, quite shy but just starting to come out of her shell at kindergarten when it started,” she said.
Sarah spent the first three months of her treatment in the Royal Children’s Hospital where she suffered severe complications from the leukaemia treatment.
She also had to deal with losing two friends she had become very close to at the hospital who did not survive.
Ms Strufer said Sarah is one of the lucky ones. “She has been able to come here to school, but you see children in the hospital who are just too tired and sick to go to school at all. That contact with the outside has been so important,” she said. “If they are constantly reminded that they are sick, then that’s how they feel.”
She said it has also been difficult for Sarah’s younger sister, Danielle Wandin, and Brendan, who has been working hard to support the family through the ordeal.
“That has been one of the hardest things for him, not being there as much as he would have liked and feeling out of the loop. He has been a wonderful support, going in pretty much every weekend to give me a break,” Ms Strufer said.
She was very happy to see the community supporting fundraisers for cancer research. “Ten years ago, they (the hospitals) were nowhere near as advanced with the treatment for leukaemia. They didn’t even have medication to stop the terrible vomiting. Now you go into the hospital and you don’t see many kids doing that any more.”