Big sister writes song to help sibling with cancer battle

Bella Gabbitas sat at the piano and wrote Warrior after Ariana, five, was diagnosed with leukaemia during lockdown.

Life for the Gabbitas family was turned upside down in just four days after Ariana started showing the very early signs of leukaemia.

But as a close and musical family, Ariana, Bella, middle sister Lyra and their parents Stephanie and Chris, pulled together. And inspired by the way Ariana was dealing with her treatment, Bella wrote a song for her.

Now, as Ariana recovers from the intensive phase of her treatment, the sisters love to sit at the piano and hear Bella play her song.

Stephanie and Chris couldn’t be more proud of Ariana or the way her sisters have helped her through her treatment.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and the family is backing Cancer Research UK Children and Young People, in partnership with TK Maxx.

Ariana, now six, plays a leading role in the campaign which supports research to help more children and young people survive cancer with a good quality of life.

The Gabbitas family, from Mayfield, is still dealing with the shock of Ariana’s diagnosis and the pace at which their lives changed.

Stephanie said: “Before, we had three really happy girls who loved their school and we were just a busy family, trying to juggle work and family during lockdown.”

They were contemplating a move to the United States, where a lot of Chris’s work – he is a lawyer, university professor and professional musician and singer – is based.

But last Autumn, during a family day out to Bedgebury Forest, Ariana started showing small signs that she wasn’t well.

Stephanie said: “She’s never been an ill child – I don’t think she’d ever missed a day at school. But she kept saying she was cold and tired and although she is normally a daredevil, she was climbing with her sisters but seemed cautious and scared.”

Later, Ariana began to develop a low-grade temperature and severe night sweats and Chris took her to A&E.

She had none of the classic signs of leukaemia and after a thorough investigation Chris expected to be taking her home with antibiotics.

But then came a devastating call where the paediatrician told them: ‘We’ve got a suspected case of leukaemia’.

The diagnosis was confirmed the next day as B cell lymphoblastic leukaemia. Ariana started treatment at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London and a whirlwind of change in the family’s life.

Stephanie said: “We collapsed for a little bit and then we said ‘Right – we have a job to do. We cancelled our work and our lives changed in four days. We knew nothing about cancer, we didn’t know any of the drugs – it was like learning a foreign language.”

Bella and Lyra, eight, helped care for Ariana and played with her when she was well enough.

Bella wrote her song for Ariana, with a little help from a friend and her dad.

“It was her own therapy” said Stephanie. “She expressed the way she felt in a unique song for Ariana.”

The family decided to take part in the Cancer Research UK campaign to help raise awareness.