FLORENCE’S INCREDIBLE GIFT TO BROTHER
WHEN little Cian Mofidi was just two, his parents spotted a slight bulge in his left eye and took him to their GP as a precaution.
He was immediately referred to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and given a very slim chance of survival.
But thanks to his incredibly brave sister Florence, who saved her baby brother’s life by donating her bone marrow, he is now free of the disease against the odds.
“We’re incredibly lucky to have such lovely, amazing children,” said their mum Denise Buckley.
“Florence brings such happiness to everybody and she wasn’t fazed by the bone marrow donation at all. She just wanted to help her brother.
“And Cian is a really strong, mature little boy. He just allowed everything to happen to him as we always told him it would all be temporary. He absolutely adores his sister and he’s always waiting for her to come home from school. They have such a special bond.”
In March 2017 Denise took Cian to see their GP the day after the lump began to appear behind his left eye. He was referred to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, where a tumour “the size of an egg” was discovered.
Within 24 hours of first noticing the lump, the family were told to go to the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff where Cian had an MRI scan and bone marrow biopsy to diagnose his condition.
After numerous investigations Cian’s results came back positive for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), an aggressive cancer which attacks the white blood cells. But things got even worse when doctors discovered he had a specific gene which meant his only chance of a full recovery was via a bone marrow transplant.
“My husband and I would only have been half a match for Cian, which wouldn’t have been enough,” said Denise. “He was incredibly lucky to have a sibling who was a perfect match. Florence had counselling before she donated her bone marrow but there was not one time where she said, ‘Do I have to do this?’”
For the transplant to go ahead Cian had to be in full remission, so he quickly started two rounds of chemotherapy and stayed in the children’s hospital for 13 weeks. He experienced a range of side-effects including sickness, hair-loss and painful mouth ulcers – but Denise said Cian showed incredible strength throughout.
The chemotherapy was deemed a success and after weeks of gruelling treatment Cian was in remission and underwent radiotherapy.
Denise added: “After the radiotherapy we had a three-week wait before we travelled to Bristol for the transplant. It was a very stressful time as we understood many patients can relapse during this wait.”
In July 2017 the family went to Bristol Children’s Hospital where Cian was put on an aggressive eightday course of treatment to destroy his bone marrow. Then, the following month, brave Florence was taken to theatre and put under general anaesthetic where 70ml of bone marrow was extracted from her hips.
Denise said six-year-old Florence “didn’t flinch” during the procedure.
She said the worst part of the experience for her daughter was finding it difficult to eat after surgery because the tube to help her breathe had made her throat sore.
By the end of that day Florence’s bone marrow had been filtered and was making its way into Cian’s bloodstream. About 30 days post-transplant, Cian’s skin and nails started to peel off to make way for the new cells.
And in total he needed to be in isolation at the Bristol hospital for 173 days – with the first 72 of those without big sister Florence.
“She couldn’t come into the room to see Cian for three months,” said Denise. “They could see and communicate to each other just through the windows. They were both so good. I explained to them that it wasn’t going to be like this for ever.”
After battling through a very tough few months, the family finally went home to Broadlands, Bridgend, in January.
According to statistics, only 16%-20% of patients with Cian’s very rare form of AML remain diseasefree after transplant.
But eight months on, Cian, who will turn four in May, has no signs of cancer in his system.
His dad Ali Modifi attributes much of this success to the way in which his condition was handled in the early stages. He said: “Having Cian treated by the NHS at the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales meant that we had all the specialists we needed under one roof, working together to diagnose and then decide on the very best course of action for Cian.
“Though hearing that your two-year-old son’s condition is the ‘worst end of bad’ isn’t something that any parent wants to hear, I’m grateful they did find that out because it created a sense of urgency without which we could have been looking at a case of incurable relapse.
“The people at this hospital will do their utmost for you and, as a family, we’ll never forget that.”
In February, Florence was given an award by her school for her bravery and given the highest accolade of “school VIP”.
Denise is now hoping to raise further awareness of the importance of bone marrow donation. The Noah’s Ark Charity supports children like Cian by funding state-of-the-art equipment, facilities and family support services at the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales.
For more information visit www.noahsarkcharity.org