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Be Inspired.

Peta Marino

Peta Marino never expected that an unusual bruise that appeared on the tummy of her two year old son, Jack, was a sign of leukaemia.

It was Christmas 2006 and Peta’s father noticed that Jack had developed a bruise overnight. As Jack hadn’t been himself recently, Peta decided to book the next available doctors appointment. Blood tests were taken and a plane arrived within hours to fly Jack to Adelaide, leaving Peta’s husband and eight month old daughter behind.

Peta is a nurse so she knew a low platelet and haemoglobin count weren’t good news but thought it could be related to Thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder. It wasn’t until Jack was admitted to Oncology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital that she knew something was really wrong.

The next day, Jack was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

“I was shocked to learn it would be at least 6 months before we could return home. It was hard to imagine caring for Jack with my husband and eight month old daughter were 400km away,” said Peta.

A hospital social worker told Peta and her family about the Leukaemia Foundation. Within days, they had moved into the Foundation’s free accommodation units where they stayed for eight months.

About three months into Jack’s treatment, Peta’s father was diagnosed with myeloma, another form of blood cancer. Her mum moved into a neighbouring Foundation unit and utilised the Foundation’s courtesy transport program to visit her husband in hospital.

“Through this devastating experience, the support of the Leukaemia Foundation has meant everything” said Peta.

Sadly, Peta’s father passed away however Jack is doing really well. She has since met a 40 year old traveller who mentioned he’d had leukaemia as a child. Peta looks forward to Jack being a 40 year old who’s blood cancer experience is far behind him.

Peta is an Ambassador for Light the Night this Spring and shares their story in our television commercial and promotional video.

“To light a balloon at Light the Night is special because it means that my son has survived blood cancer,” she said.

Read more about the work of the Leukaemia Foundation.

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