AN appeal has been launched to raise £2,000 so a teenager from Frenchay who is fighting cancer can replace her hair – and regain her confidence.
Meadow Ferns, who is 13, was diagnosed with leukaemia at the end of November last year after feeling unwell for some time.
Mum Sarah said that at first doctors thought she had a virus or chest infection, but when she didn’t recover she was given a blood test.
Sarah said: “We had the blood test on a Tuesday morning and at 6pm that day they said ‘come into hospital, and bring an overnight bag’.”
Meadow was diagnosed the following day and began chemotherapy two days after that, spending 52 days straight in Bristol Children’s Hospital.
While there she suffered a lumbar puncture leak, where fluid escaped from her spinal column after part of her treatment, confining her to her bed for four weeks.
She also had to be treated for a mass, or growth, on her lung, kidney failure and a collapsed heart valve.
Sarah said her daughter had “been through hell”, adding: “We thought we were going to lose her.”
She praised the “amazing, absolutely fabulous” staff on the hospital’s Apollo 35 ward for their treatment of Meadow and the many other children on the ward.
But it is the loss of her hair during chemotherapy which has affected Meadow, who has autism, the most psychologically.
It fell out following intravenous chemo on the ward, followed by daily oral doses, which she is due to take for two years in total.
Meadow, a former pupil of St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Primary School in Downend, has been given a wig provided by charity Young Lives vs Cancer.
But Sarah said her daughter, now a pupil of Sir Bernard Lovell Academy in Oldland Common, is anxious that the wig could be pulled or fall off after catching on something, and as a result she is unwilling to go out.
She said Meadow losing her hair is a “wall she can’t overcome,” adding: “We’ve had times when we’ve driven into town and she won’t get out of the car.
“Her hair is her shield, it’s her armour. She had beautiful long fair locks before her treatment.”
Sarah has found an alternative to a wig called Intralace, which involves using a breathable mesh to combine Meadow’s existing hair with additional human hair, disguising her hair loss.
Her own hair can grow back through the mesh, and the whole system is checked and adjusted every six weeks.
But it is only available privately and will cost almost £2,000.
Sarah, who works as an administrator at Winterbourne Academy, having previously worked at St Augustine’s, has launched an online fundraiser to help find the money.
She said: “At the moment Meadow’s natural hair is starting to grow back but it’s very short.
“Wigs are stuck to the head and hair can’t grow underneath. With the Interlace system her hair can grow under it.
“When they said it was over £1,900 I burst into tears.
“I do work but I’ve had to cut my hours to part time, so I can be with Meadow.
“It’s such a lot of money, but this is what’s going to get her back into school, back into society – she’s very isolated at the moment.”
Meadow said: “It would mean I’m more confident and I would feel like myself.
“I know it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, but it doesn’t make you feel very proud of yourself when you’re wearing a wig – you feel like you’re hiding underneath it.
“When I do get my hair back I’m going to absolutely cherish it – you don’t know how much it means to you until it’s gone.
“I wish I could have it back, but this is the second-best thing until it does grow back.”
Donations to the fundraising appeal can be made online at gofund.me/46f84bfd.