GOODBYE MY BRAVE GIRL

Carly Surridge, 32, had to let her daughter go, but her memory will always live on

- JOE CUSACK

Watching my little girl run around the garden in her princess dress, a tear escaped from my eye. It was February 2021, and we were celebrating my daughter Acacia's sixth birthday. She was having the time of her life dressed as Elsa, her favourite character from the film Frozen. And when Queen Elsa herself walked in, dressed in a near-identical outfit, Acacia looked like she might burst with excitement. But although she seemed happy and carefree, like any other child her age, five months earlier, my sweet girl had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She had less than a year to live.

 

SOMETHING WRONG

In August 2020, I had taken Acacia, then five, and her stepbrother Landon, eight, out for dinner to celebrate her stepdad Ben's 26th birthday, along with my mum and dad. But Acacia wasn't her usual chatty self and when Ben and I looked through photos the next morning, we noticed one of her eyes was drooping and her mouth was a little slanted.

Concerned, we saw our GP the next day, who referred Acacia to hospital, where she was diagnosed with Bell's palsy - a form of weakness in the facial muscles - and prescribed steroids.

At first, Acacia's symptoms improved, but by the end of the week, she was complaining of headaches, sickness and dizziness. And when she began to lose her balance, bumping into things and becoming unable to walk properly, I took her to hospital and insisted she had scans.

After an a doctor ushered me into a private room while Acacia played with a nurse, and I felt my heart lurch. I just knew it meant bad news.

I'm afraid we've found a mass on Acacia's brain,' he said. "She'll need more tests before we can determine what it is.'