Community rallies round to help Hastings girl, 9, with leukaemia

Evie-Lily Smithers is currently in intensive care at St George’s Hospital in London after contracting sepsis following chemotherapy to treat her cancer.

Her family is trying to raise money to pay towards the cost of living so her parents can be near her while she is in hospital, as she could be there for up to six months.

Evie-Lily, who has three older brothers, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the myeloid cells.

Her father, Steve, a self-employed landscape gardener, said: “Around the beginning of October Evie came home from school unwell. We gave her Calpol as she had a slight temperature and put her to bed early.

“She woke up around midnight struggling to breathe and we took her to A&E where they gave her steroids for croup and sent us home.

“On the Monday my wife, Jane took her our doctors in Westfield and they gave her a thorough check, giving her antibiotics for a throat infection. We kept her off school that week and on the Monday the following week (October 9), sent her to school.

“My wife got a call at lunch time to say that Evie-Lily was lethargic and feeling unwell. Jane and I picked her up and our Westfield GP agreed to see her that afternoon. Our doctor did a full and thorough examination, he phoned the Kipling ward at the Conquest and sent us up there for tests.

“The hospital gave us a room and took blood tests daily, sending them to several hospitals in London. We were informed by the doctors on October 11 that our daughter had leukemia and would be transferred to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton.

“Upon arriving the next day we were informed it was acute myeloid leukemia and she would be in hospital for at least six months. On October 13 she had her first operation for bone marrow and for the chemotherapy, doctors checked her heart to see if it was strong enough for the treatment.

“Thankfully it was, and on the following Tuesday, Evie-Lily started her first round of intensive chemo and treatments of eight days to kill all marrow and white blood cells.

"Last Thursday (October 26) she contracted sepsis and was rushed to intensive care at St George’s Hospital where we will remain for the next week or so then back to the Royal Marsden to complete recovery of cells before round two of chemo starts mid-November.”

More than £3,600 has been raised via a Gofundme page, which Evie-Lily’s brother Louis has set up.

As well as paying for the cost of living while her family is away, the money will be used for toys, clothes and other necessities.

The page can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/evielily-leukemia-funds.