General News
17 April, 2025
Fletcher's fight continues at Royal Children's Hospital
With Easter comes the Good Friday Appeal, raising funds for The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne to provide a high level of care for children who are sick.
One family locally, the Dandys, knows just how amazing the hospital's care level is and how much funding is needed to keep providing it at such a high standard.
Samara and Simon's son, Fletcher, 10, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) T Cell on March 18, 2024, and their story is one of bravery, determination, and strength.
At four, Fletcher was Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy Syndrome, a disease so rare it only affects around one in every million children.
As if negotiating life with that illness wasn't enough, Fletcher was then diagnosed with Leukemia, with the illnesses being completely unrelated.
"Fletcher hadn’t been quite well since January 2024 and was complaining of really sore legs which was what was a complaint with his FIRES," Samara said.
"He started to have more seizures in January and February and we increased his medication.
"He was part of the relay school swimming team and I noticed each time he competed he seemed to struggle with fatigue more and more.
"Then he was supposed to participate in the Horsham Fishing competition in 2024 and in the morning he had a seizure."
Fletcher attended the event later but was so fatigued his mum had to carry him to his Grandma and Grandpa's place.
There, he had a large seizure and an ambulance was called.
Fletcher was taken to the Horsham hospital, where bloods were carried out, and, on receiving their results, doctors realised something amiss.
"They started him on antibiotics but after a couple of days he wasn’t improving," Samara said.
"He was then transported to RCH where they did more tests and thought his medication for seizures was causing issues.
"Further tests and a bone marrow aspirate revealed Fletch had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) T Cell."
The family was given the news that Fletcher would need to be in Melbourne for up to eight months for treatment.
Doctors at RCH commenced treatment on Fletcher immediately, and it included him having a procedure to get a Hickman Line so he could receive high doses of chemotherapy without the damage to his veins.
"He started with an intensive treatment for eight weeks where they hit him with high dose chemotherapy and high dose steroids," Samara shared.
"After each dose of chemotherapy, we watched our little boy get sicker and sicker.
"He got mucasitis in this mouth, throat, stomach, and bowel.
"He ended up with a stomach bacterial infection and encephalitis in his brain.
"He also lost his eyesight and became extremely disorientated.
"He became so unwell they had to stop his treatment so that his body would recover."
Fletcher was at RCH from March to June 2024 and during this time Samara stayed by his side, while Simon and Fletcher's sister, Kirrily, were back and forth between Horsham and Melbourne for school and work.
The support of family and friends was vital for the family at this time, with many helping out to give Samara and Simon a break or make things a bit easier.
When Fletcher was able to finally leave the hospital, he wasn't allowed to return to Horsham, and Samara said they were blessed to be able to stay at one of the MyRoom Children with Cancer Charity Houses in Brighton.
"This allowed for a little bit of normalcy for Fletcher and family and friends could come and visit," she said.
"Our stay in Melbourne extended out to nearly 12 months as Fletcher continued to have complications and issues with the treatment and was in and out of hospital over this time.
"His treatment plan had to be constantly stopped and re-assed."
Fletcher became isolated, not allowed to be in public, and places like public transport, school, and shops were out of bounds.
"As we were limited to who we could visit we started to have a new RCH family where the families and staff became our only contacts," Samara said.
"Fletcher did not like socialising and over these 12 months became very withdrawn.
"He didn’t like losing his hair and was constantly in pain from the medication they were giving him.
"I became close with a few of the families at RCH and became a member of the RCH oncology Facebook page.
"Each week a new member would be added as their child was diagnosed with cancer.
"Your world becomes discussions with families about what type of cancer the children have to what treatment is working and not working.
"Being in this environment for this time puts life in perspective but also is such on drain on you."
Now, Fletcher still has a couple of years of treatment ahead of him, which at the moment means the family has to travel to Melbourne at least weekly until August.
"He hasn’t been to school since March 2024 so we are hoping to get him back into the classroom for a bit but we still have to be careful as his immune system is still low at times from the chemotherapy and he has to be careful with his Hickmnan Line," Samara said.
"From the high dose steroids he has had over the past year he has also developed AVN in the bones in his legs and is in constant pain.
"We are still waiting to see an orthopedic surgeon to determine if he needs to have any surgery to help ease the pain."
With everything he has been through, Fletcher's parents are proud of how their son has handled each obstacle.
"Fletcher is an extremely brave boy and like his FIREs diagnosis and treatment just seems to get on with it," Samara said.
"However now that we are home and he is starting to feel a bit like his old self he has started to get bored and lonely."
The family are also grateful for the support provided by RCH - which Samara said has been nothing short of amazing.
"There are a lot of Charities that provide support to oncology patients at RCH," she said.
"While Fletcher has been in hospital he has had visits from the Captains from the Starlight Foundation.
"They also provided art therapy for Fletch while he was in hospital and as he could not physically get out of bed he often liked having the teacher at RCH visit him to play games, do art activities and make slime.
"The Doctors and Nursing staff at RCH are amazing and go above and beyond for the patients at RCH."
Samara acknowledges times are tough and everyone is cutting back on their spending, and said at RCH there is no difference, with cuts in funding.
"We have seen noticeable losses of a lot of valuable services and staff members at RCH just in the past 12 months," she said.
But she urges anyone who can donate to the Good Friday Appeal does, no mattter how big or small.
"We need to be supporting the Good Friday Appeal and other children's charities at the RCH so that our children can continue to receive the best medical care," Samara said.
"You never know when your child may need to use the services and facilities of the hospital."
