With a smile stretching across her face, five-year-old Lucy held on tightly to her dad with one arm as she leant over and tolled the bell with the other.
The chimes bounced around the children’s ward, and the nurses and family erupted in cheers, as Lucy signalled that she had reached the end of her chemotherapy.
Four months later, and cancer free, Lucy waltzed into her first day of kindergarten like she hadn’t just been through hell and back suffering from a bone cancer that stole almost two years of her childhood.
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For mum Sarah Galvin, waving goodbye to The Sydney Children’s Hospital was bittersweet.
“The end-of-treatment bell is such an odd feeling,” Sarah tells 7Life.
“Obviously we are so happy Lucy is no longer sick, but if we could do chemo forever to keep her safe and alive we would.”
Lucy was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer Ewing sarcoma in March 2022.
The moment Sarah spotted a lump on her daughter’s chest she knew it wasn’t good news.
It came during the chaos of bedtime, as Sarah tried to wrangle her three children: Grace, then five, Lucy, then three, and Billy, then 18 months.
As the Sydney mum lifted up Lucy’s T-shirt, she froze — protruding from her little girl’s ribcage was a lump.
“It was a rock-solid lump that didn’t move, it wasn’t squishy, right on her ribcage,” Sarah says.
“I instantly thought worst-case scenario.”
Sarah assumed it was cancer.
When she finally managed to put all three children to sleep, she jumped on her laptop to begin researching what the lump might mean.
“It almost looked like a rib that had broken and re-set, not in the right place,” she says.
Unable to sleep, Sarah booked her GP’s first appointment the next morning and went to the clinic early.
The doctor sent Lucy for a scan and the mum tried to push the “what ifs” from her mind as she took her daughter for the appointment.
But at 10.30am, the GP phoned and urged the mum to go to Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Sarah’s heart raced.
Despite her suspicions of cancer, she couldn’t bring herself to consider it was a realistic possibility.
At hospital, Lucy underwent numerous tests as doctors discovered the toddler had two lesions on her lungs.
Still without answers, the anxious mother was asked to go back the next morning for more tests on her little girl.
“No way was I leaving the hospital without answers, I couldn’t sleep,” Sarah says.
Oncologists indicated a likelihood of cancer but said they required more detailed scans to confirm what type.
That night, mother and daughter left the hospital at 8pm. Sarah still didn’t sleep.
The next morning, they were back at 8am — and every day after that, for almost a week.
Lucy underwent biopsies and scans, fasted for CT examinations and was poked and prodded countless times.
On March 24, 2022, Lucy was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma — a type of bone or tissue cancer.
“I still had this ‘how would you know’ sort of attitude,” Sarah reveals.
“I guess I just buried deep down that I knew it was cancer.”
The specialist advised the family Lucy would need nine months of treatment including chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
Seven days later, she underwent her first round of chemo.
The brave toddler suffered from horrible side effects due to the drug fighting her disease.
With constant fevers and infections, her chemotherapy was constantly delayed.
But Lucy never gave up.
“She is like an old lady in a kid’s body,” Sarah smiles.
“She doesn’t tolerate fools and sometimes I think she is my mum.”
Keeping her sense of humour throughout, the little girl would tell jokes to the nurses and doctors.
At times, she would give them the silent treatment if she believed they were “wasting her time”, her mum laughs.
“Everyone thought she was hilarious,” Sarah says.
“She had no qualms in telling people, nurses, doctors, anyone really, what she truly thought of them.”
Lucy became the life of the ward.
When discharged from hospital between treatments, life would go on as normal.
Hooked up to an oxygen tank, Lucy would join in the school run and wave goodbye to her older sister Grace, before heading back to hospital for checkups.
After 12 months of chemo and radiation — and surgery to remove three ribs — little Lucy had won.
In September 2023, scans revealed she was cancer free.
And five months later, both Lucy and Grace walked hand-in-hand into school.
Watching the faces of teachers, parents and students light up — as an oxygen- and tube-free Lucy waltzed into school — warmed Sarah’s heart.
She feels like the community has been with them every step of the way.
Lucy’s family is sharing its story in support of Children Cancer Institute’s 86K for a Cure, which asks people to walk or run 86km in March for the 86 kids diagnosed with cancer every month in Australia.
You can register or donate at 86kforacure.org.au
