Like most mothers, Vanessia Woo documented the precious first days, weeks and months after her daughter’s birth. But her photos weren’t like the ones you’d usually see.There were no first smiles, yawns or tummy time. No stroller rides or first visits to the pool.“Olivia doesn’t have regular baby photos,” the 48-year-old mother said.This is because Olivia Tan, now eight, had spent the first few months of her young life in an isolation ward battling infantile acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.This is a rare and aggressive blood cancer that occurs in babies under one year old. The bone marrow produces large numbers of abnormal white blood cells which crowd out healthy blood cells, and impair the body’s ability to fight infections, carry oxygen and stop bleeding.The tiny infant I saw in every photo Woo showed me had tubes sticking out of her face and body.“This thing connected to her is a Hickman line (a tube inserted into a large vein in the chest, and left in there for chemotherapy),” Woo explained.“One of the drugs caused her to bloat up. You almost cannot recognise her,” she shared of the next photo.
Then, as I looked at what I thought was an empty ward at first, Woo said: “This is the isolation room. This is the chemo drug. You almost can’t see her. All you see is equipment.”Diagnosed at five weeks old, Olivia’s body was flooded with chemotherapy drugs even before she could safely start on solids.The powerful drugs caused side effects, including foot drop. She cannot lift her left foot and has no control of her left ankle and below. She wears an ankle-foot orthosis to help her walk.On Aug 29, Olivia will be walking the runway at Fashion for Cancer, an annual charity fashion show in Singapore that features cancer patients and survivors, and raises funds for research and patient support. She will be joined by her mother, Woo, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2023.THE DIAGNOSIS NO PARENT EXPECTSA precocious girl, Olivia was listening intently beside us. Her mother had told her about her cancer battle before but she still feels surprised hearing it retold. She has no memory of it.
