It was a rare life threatening condition which connected three-year-old Ivy Exantus and nine-month old Ava Polzin of Goulburn.
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Ivy was diagnosed with a disease called Fanconi Anaemia. This has affected the resilience of her bone marrow and depleted the red blood cells in her system. She also has a high chance of developing cancer later in life.
Ava was diagnosed with Leukemia last month and was sent to Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick.
As the two families settled into the shock of their daughters conditions, Ivy’s mother Kimberley Exantus overheard a conversation in the hallway and approached Ava’s mother, Sherie Polzin.
“I was telling the nurses that I was from Goulburn, and she came up and asked me if she heard correctly,” Ms Polzin said.
“She said she was too. I was blown away. Somebody else going through the same thing we were going through and they happened to live in the same town.”
After this the hospital curtain between the two girls was often left open. Ms Polzin said Ivy, a unicorn lover would call out and sing to Ava.
“It was quite sweet,” she said describing their automatic bond.
It has been a grueling month for the two families.
Ava has just completed four weeks of chemotherapy. Doctors say that on the surface the Leukemia has gone, but she is expected to have a second round of treatment in June. She has no immune system and is often treated by nurses in masks and gloves.
Her mother realised there was something wrong when Ava stopped eating solids and became lethargic.
“We couldn’t believe someone so little could have cancer,” she said.
On Sunday morning Ss Peter and Paul’s Primary School organised a sausage sizzle and raffle to save fund for Ava.
Over the last couple of days Ava has been happy and interactive, this follows her ‘rock bottom’ week where Ms Polzin described her as lifeless. Father Dave plans to organise a golf day with his colleagues to raise funds.
For the Exantus family five-year-old brother Jaye (pictured) is Ivy’s bone marrow match.
He has decided to become a bone marrow donor for his sister, a traditionally painful procedure.
After nine days of chemotherapy, Ivy, with Jaye’s bone marrow, is being closely monitored. Despite the perfect match, there is still a possibility her body will reject the fluids.
“They’ve been very honest with the whole situation,” Kimberley’s friend Lee’arne Campbell said.
Lee’arne, Bec Clarke and mutual friend Hannah Watson organised a cake day to raise funds and plan to organise a larger fundraiser at JumpIn in Goulburn at the end of the month.
“These little people are so strong and so tiny and you’d never think this would happen to you as a parent,” Ms Watson said.
“You never imagine the little people to be so lifeless. You wouldn’t want yourself to go through it, and the days where the small smiles come out are tiny pickups.
“We don’t want people to say it’s only a fundraiser. It is not any fundraiser. We want people to believe that they can support this family.”
Both family and supporters of Ivy and Ava, now on good terms, agree these unfortunate events are an opportunity to raise awareness on diseases and donating blood.
For Ivy, there are four people in Australia committed to donating blood over the next year.
“We need people to donate and we need them to regularly register, which none of us think about,” said Ms Campbell. “Because the immediate thing we said, and what other people may ask, is what can we do?”
The fundraiser for Ivy will be held at JumpIn on June 25.
- To donate blood or for more information on the blood service head to Australian Red Cross on 183-187 Auburn Street.