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BRAVE CIARA WINS BENJI MARSHALL'S HEART
By Wayne Cousins
7/02/2012 7:11:30 PM
Benji Marshall had a battle on his hands with the Wests Tigers Mascot at Concord Oval this afternoon to try the win the heart of brave two-year-old Ciara Flanagan.
Ciara and her family were special guests at training to help promote the 2012 Wests Tigers Season Launch in association with the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia (CCIA).
A premium charity partner of the Club, CCIA has been well supported by Marshall in the past. This year, Wests Tigers is keen to raise at least $250,000 for CCIA as part of its season launch.
“I am always happy to use my profile to help raise funds into research for children’s cancer,’’ Marshall said.
“Ciara is a brave little girl who unfortunately spent six of her first 12 months in life in hospital. She is very cute. I had to fight off our friendly Tiger mascot for cuddles with her. She loves him."
At 12 weeks old, Ciara was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of childhood cancer. She underwent two gruelling operations and eight bouts of chemotherapy at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick to beat the disease.
The ordeal began when Ciara went to hospital with a gastro bug. “You know something is wrong when four serious doctors and a social worker walk towards you,” Michaela said.
“They then told us she had neuroblastoma. We didn’t know what it was, but when we were introduced to an oncologist, we figured out it was cancer.
“Throughout her first year she was quite amazing throughout it all, little kids are so resilient. Our doctor was very frank with us. He said from day one that she was so small and she had a good chance of beating it but said that kids can and do die from this disease at her age.”
Ciara completed all of her chemotherapy a year ago and has regular scans to check that the disease, which develops from nerve tissue, hasn’t returned. Despite being declared in remission, the Flanagan family are well aware of the very real fear of relapse.
By Wayne Cousins
7/02/2012 7:11:30 PM
Benji Marshall had a battle on his hands with the Wests Tigers Mascot at Concord Oval this afternoon to try the win the heart of brave two-year-old Ciara Flanagan.
Ciara and her family were special guests at training to help promote the 2012 Wests Tigers Season Launch in association with the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia (CCIA).
A premium charity partner of the Club, CCIA has been well supported by Marshall in the past. This year, Wests Tigers is keen to raise at least $250,000 for CCIA as part of its season launch.
“I am always happy to use my profile to help raise funds into research for children’s cancer,’’ Marshall said.
“Ciara is a brave little girl who unfortunately spent six of her first 12 months in life in hospital. She is very cute. I had to fight off our friendly Tiger mascot for cuddles with her. She loves him."
At 12 weeks old, Ciara was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of childhood cancer. She underwent two gruelling operations and eight bouts of chemotherapy at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick to beat the disease.
The ordeal began when Ciara went to hospital with a gastro bug. “You know something is wrong when four serious doctors and a social worker walk towards you,” Michaela said.
“They then told us she had neuroblastoma. We didn’t know what it was, but when we were introduced to an oncologist, we figured out it was cancer.
“Throughout her first year she was quite amazing throughout it all, little kids are so resilient. Our doctor was very frank with us. He said from day one that she was so small and she had a good chance of beating it but said that kids can and do die from this disease at her age.”
Ciara completed all of her chemotherapy a year ago and has regular scans to check that the disease, which develops from nerve tissue, hasn’t returned. Despite being declared in remission, the Flanagan family are well aware of the very real fear of relapse.
