The Gurrs are counting the days until March 31, which will mark Adelaide’s last chemotherapy treatment.
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The former Gunnedah girl was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in 2016 at the age of three. Two years on, she has a full head of hair again and is attending Kindergarten at East Maitland Public School.
Her family is planning a “no more chemo” party in April to celebrate the end of 30 months of treatment through John Hunter Children’s Hospital.
“We can see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel,” Adelaide’s mum Kirran said.
“She’s been quite well over the summer.
“She’s achieving milestones now [and] she’s enjoying life and that’s certainly where she should.”
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The change is welcome after an unexpected health scare before Christmas.
“[Adelaide] was having really bad headaches and she was falling forward into the foetal position,” Mrs Gurr said.
“They thought the cancer might have gone to her brain so she had brain scans and extra lumbar punctures.”
The issue turned out to be low blood sugar, which was linked to her chemo treatment. The problem has been resolved by issuing her chemo treatment in the morning instead of the evening.
Despite the struggles the family has experienced since Adelaide’s diagnosis, a positive project has bloomed amidst her treatment – the Porty Shirt Crusade.
A “porty shirt” is a simple solution for cancer patients who have a port-a-cath – an implanted device, which gives access to the veins of patients who need regular long-term administration of antibiotics or chemotherapy drugs.
“Early on, even at the age of 3, Adelaide hated taking her arm out of the sleeve to access the port-a-cath [in her chest]. One day I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if the shirt had a zip?’,” Mrs Gurr said.
“My mother-in-law is good at sewing so within three days she had whipped something up.
“That just made everything easier.”
What started out as a small project soon became something much bigger in late 2017.
“My husband and I were trying to think of something we could do to thank John Hunter,” Ms Gurr said.
“We just thought if we can ease the burden of someone’s else's cancer battle, it would be really great.
“[Adelaide] initially delivered 70 shirts to John Hunter and the doctors and nurses cried,” Ms Gurr said.
“She took great joy in handing them out to the kids.”
The idea took off and people are now purchasing shirts and zippers, sewing them in, and sending them off to the Gurrs who in turn send them on to the hospitals.
“Initially, it was our gift to John Hunter Hospital to pay it forward [but the concept] has spread like wildfire and the shirts are now going to all children’s cancer units across Australia,” Mrs Gurr said.
“We’ve delivered 391 shirts so far.”
Mrs Gurr said the success of the port shirts has positively impacted the family.
“Helping community and helping others has really made a difference,” she said.
“We’ve had lots of people turning up at our door.
“Even when we were last in the hospital, we had people coming up to [Adelaide] and saying ‘You’re the girl on the Porty Crusade poster’.”
Mrs Gurr said the project has “gone beyond our expectations".
"It’s been so well received and every day people feel they can contribute to that and be helpful,” she said.
Mrs Gurr said the family will continue with the project.
“In my garage at the moment I probably have 700 shirts and 700 zips that need to be put in,”
Anyone interested in contributing finances, shirts, zips or their sewing skills to the Porty Shirt Crusade can contact Kirran Gurr on 0409 922 246.
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