Girl’s leukaemia fight following thorn scratch
A LITTLE girl who has been put through hell after scratching her knee on a thorn is now battling leukaemia as a result of the seemingly innocuous injury.
The two to three millimetre thorn that had lodged itself into the seven-year-old’s knee while she was playing resulted in infection raging through her body.
Little Annabelle Newman from Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, had seven operations to save her leg from amputation after the infection spread from her knee, to her foot and near her groin.
But then at the beginning of October she was diagnosed with aggressive acute myeloid leukaemia, brought on by the thorn incident which had weakened her immune system.
Annabelle’s hell began earlier this year when she came home from school complaining of an ache in her knee. Her mum found the tiny thorn lodged in her daughter, pulled it out and thought nothing of it. The thorn that scratched Annabelle was from the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), which has long spikes, one of which broke off under her skin and turned septic.
Her mum Charlene Kirby said: “A week later she started getting blotches, like heat spots, from her knee to her foot and her foot started to lose skin. The week after that she started getting a white discharge which turned to green.
“We went to the doctor, they gave her antibiotics instead but it made it more angry. She was pale and wouldn’t eat or drink so we phoned 111 and took her to A&E and had to wait about six hours to be seen before she was admitted to the children’s ward in Glangwili Hospital.”
So aggressive was the spread of infection that within four days Annabelle was on the operating table as surgeons tried to clear the infection.
Charlene added: “They made 11 holes to try and swab and clear up the infection. The surgeon couldn’t believe how much infection there was in her one leg.
“Two days later, on May 11, she had her second operation where she had a cannula in her arm and an MRI scan and then on May 16 she developed an abscess and two cysts on her leg. The doctor told us that we were lucky to have taken her in when we did because she could have developed sepsis.”
Annabelle lives with lymphedema – a long-term condition where excess fluid collects in tissues causing swelling – and myelodysplastic syndrome, which means her bone marrow doesn’t produce enough healthy blood cells. In some people the condition can develop into a type of leukaemia called acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
Annabelle’s third operation was three hours long and saw samples of blood and bone marrow taken and a biopsy of the infection. She underwent another operation just two days later to clean her wounds.
“She had physiotherapy to get her moving as they had to try and get her to stretch her leg and she finally gained strength and stood up on her own and was able to use a wheelchair to go for a walk.
“She had her fifth operation where they used two draining machines to collect and repair the infection in her leg and to clean the holes.
“Then the following day we were told that she had no infection and she didn’t have a temperature. Two days later they started a healing process of closing up her wound bit by bit.”
On June 4 she underwent her seventh operation in under a month, this time to check that her main wound near her groin was clean. That should have been the end of her ordeal and the start of her recovery. But the family became concerned when they noticed bruises increasingly appearing on
Annabelle’s arms and back.
And while they had been told her bone marrow had deteriorated they had not expected the news that her myelodysplastic syndrome had developed into acute myeloid leukaemia.
Annabelle is now in urgent need of a full bone marrow transplant, and will have a three-month stay in either the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle or Bristol’s children’s hospital. The family is waiting to find out if her dad is a blood match.
Charlene said: “She is extremely tired. We’ve spoken to her saying your blood is poorly because the thorn has caused your immune system to weaken and it’s not protecting you from bad bugs. She was really sad and says she didn’t want to go hospital.”
Charlene’s close friend, Kelly Nicholson, described by the family as their “hero” is raising funds for the family. Charlene’s partner was made redundant during the pandemic and the money will help the family in Newcastle or Bristol.
Charlene says 2021 has been the worst year for her family: “I feel bad for her to see her going through it all again after being hospitalised back between May and June with the thorn for seven weeks. She never gets a break.”