Praise for an ‘amazing’ firm backing Jessica, 12, as she battles leukaemia
A Sunderland mum has praised a city firm for supporting her courageous daughter in her fightback from cancer.
Jessica Hunter, 12, has come through leukaemia, sepsis, a heart attack, a leaky ventricle and necrosis.
But she needs a downstairs wet room and toilet to be installed in the family home because Jessica still faces numerous battles.
And that’s where Pallion firm Kitchen Magic SR4 came in.
They heard about Jessica’s courage and agreed to provide a hand basin and toilet.
Company owner Martin Swales said: “It is always nice to help and we can hopefully help Jessica to have a better standard of life.
"We just want to help the family out.”
Kitchen Magic SR4 has been trading from Pallion for 24 years and is a family owned firm.
Jessica’s mum Joanne Hunter said: “We think his kindness and generosity is just amazing.
“We do not know where to begin to try to thank people for their kind donations and offer of help in transforming our downstairs utility room into an accessible bathroom for Jessica.
“It'll make such a difference to her and give her some dignity and privacy back.”
It all began when Jessica was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in August 2021 after random bruises began appearing on her arms, legs and back.
She was in pain whenever she walked or ran and couldn’t look at the light.
She spent two weeks on a ventilator at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and spent four weeks in hospital.
A constant round of chemotherapy, steroids and blood transfusions followed and her legs became so weak that she was confined to a wheelchair.
But her battles were not over.
In the months that followed she developed sepsis and was transferred to the Freeman Hospital.
Her parents – mum Joanne, 45, and dad Graeme, 52 – were told she was not expected to survive the short ambulance ride between the hospitals.
She then had a heart attack and had to be resuscitated and she was put on a heart machine, with the family being told her chances of successfully coming off it were slim.
She has avascular necrosis which is the death of bone tissue due to a lack of blood supply, and she has a leaky valve in her left ventricle.
But despite being against all the odds, Jessica has fought through.
Joanne said: “She is still smiling and pushes through every day the best she can.
"She makes us so proud every single day.
“We are still taking it one day at a time.”
Jessica has numerous appointments ahead for health issues including damage to her heart, six-weekly blood checks, weekly hydrotherapy and physiotherapy sessions.
“There is a massive team of professionals involved at the RVI orthopaedics, oncology, pain management team, metabolics, paediatrician and also cardiologists at the Freeman Hospital,” said Joanne.
“Jessica tries very hard on a daily basis to practice her walking and weight bearing but that is massively dependent on how much pain she's in or causes her, so no two days are the same.”
It is thanks to Sunderland woman Maureen Thompson that Echo followers and local companies have helped.
Maureen, who has fundraised for Wearside children for 23 years, chose Jessica as a cause to support for 2024 and Martin Swales was a friend of her husband Allan’s.
She said: “Having spoken to Joanne about the struggle Jessica has – just to go to the toilet which is something we don't have a second thought about – I was immediately on board to do all I can."