Strangely enough, one of the luckiest things that ever happened to four  year old Alexandra was a rare liver condition that forced her family to travel to Chicago for a treatment that isn’t available in Canada.  Granted, that doesn’t sound like luck, but while doctors were performing surgery, they discovered a tumour in her liver that turned out to be Hepatoblastoma, a rare liver cancer.  Had they not been operating on Alexandra, they may not have caught her cancer so quickly.  Doctors in Chicago removed the tumour and part of her liver immediately, and after spending seven weeks in Chicago, she returned to Saskatoon for her chemotherapy treatment.

Though Alexandra’s condition and treatment caused some developmental delays and often kept her feeling violently ill, she was almost always her friendly, affectionate self.  “She’s pretty amazing,” says her Mom Julie Ann.  “Her illness definitely knocked her down.  But I look back and remember that as sick as she was, she’d be lying on the bed or the couch, and even though she was feeling crummy, she was still smiling, still happy.  There are very few days where she was cranky.  She managed to take it better than any grown up would.  If I had to choose one word to describe her, it would be resilient.”  

Thankfully, though she’ll need to be monitored, Alexandra is feeling better and she is starting to learn to talk, which makes her excited about learning.  Alexandra’s parents knew her wish would revolve around the outdoors.  Alexandra’s favourite place is the lake,  but with her medical issues, the family couldn’t ever go camping, but that will all change this summer.

“She spent so much time in the hospital and had a lot of complications,” says Julie Ann.  “We lost a whole summer to her treatments.  It was the hardest time we’ve been through as a family.”

Alexandra’s wish was to purchase a camping trailer for the family so they can make up for lost time.  With a trailer, Alexandra can still be outside, but she’ll still have a clean and comfortable place to sleep and take her medication.

“We want to write something on the back bumper,” says Julie Ann,  “Something like ‘Alexandra’s Wagon.’  That way she can have and enjoy the camper when she gets older.  She’ll be able to enjoy it in the years to come.”