Ida Veatupu, 10, on the way to Starship Hospital by ambulance.
By now, in the middle of 2023, Cherelle and Sione Veatupu should have been watching their daughter Ida working toward the goals she had set herself for the year.
Instead, the 10-year-old Fairhaven School student is in Starship Hospital, fighting Burkitt lymphoma - an aggressive form of cancer.
“It was a huge shock ‘cos she’s a healthy girl,” says Cherelle. “We were planning her last year at primary, and the sports she was going to play and the awards she was going to go for at school.
“She’s very sport focused - the whole family is - she does between three and five sports per year - but she’s doing really well academically and in the performing arts as well.”
It wasn’t straightforward but the diagnosis was made in March, and began with a pain in Ida’s mouth.
“The journey to get here was pretty s*** to be honest,” says Cherelle.
After several consultations, Ida was seen by a dental surgeon on the Thursday before Easter.
“Her mouth was swollen and her adult teeth had become mobile. He looked at her X-ray straight away and said ‘she’s got bone loss in her teeth’.
“He got a bit of her back story then he’s like - ‘no, she’s immunocompromised, she’s not a surgical patient, she needs to be in the [paediatrics] ward.”
In a week she had lost 4kg, she was anaemic and was given an iron infusion, but alarm bells were still ringing for Cherelle.
Ida saw the dental surgeon again on the Tuesday after Easter.
“He did another X-ray on her teeth and she had lost more bone in her teeth and he said he had never ever seen anything like this before. He believed she was severely immunocompromised.”
A biopsy was done two days later.
“He said it looks like lymphoma cells he had removed from other people before.
“Obviously that was hard to hear, but it explained a lot.”
The biopsy was sent away with results asked for urgently, and Cherelle was told to expect a call either on the Friday or the Monday.
“Over the weekend, after she had had her biopsy, her eye became lazy. She still didn’t realise, but said her vision was a bit blurry.”
On the next Wednesday Cherelle received a call and was asked to go to Tauranga Hospital.
“[The caller] said ‘you need to pack bags, Starship want Ida there as soon as’. So that pretty much confirmed her diagnosis.”
At Starship, tests revealed lesions through her optic nerve, her spinal fluid, her mouth, her throat, her bowels and her lungs.
“That’s how aggressively Burkitt’s grows,” says Cherelle.
By the time she got to Starship, Ida was stage four.
“So her treatment is very aggressive as well to get rid of it - but it’s a shorter treatment. There are some kids who have treatment for two and a half years.”
Ida has been in Starship ever since and Cherelle is staying with her on the ward.
“Currently it’s just chemo, not radiation, and we are in our fourth treatment round now. We are looking at six months of treatment and in eight weeks she has done four rounds of treatment protocols.
“This round she was really really nauseous, quite tired. Her results and stuff are good, her cancer is disappearing but her treatment is really intense and knocks her around a lot.”
Ida has an older brother Huanui who is 12, and baby brother Sione jnr.
Dad Sione is unable to work, having to stay home to look after Sione jnr.
“We are really grateful Ronald McDonald House - means the boys can come up when it suits and have got somewhere close to be able to see us. For us, the hardest part is being away from the boys.”
Beyond the immediate family, visitors are not allowed on the oncology ward.
“That makes it pretty tough and we are missing friends and family.”
A Givealittle page has also been set up and there have been several fundraising events at Fairhaven School. There was also a collection at the Te Puke Sports v Rangiuru Baywide rugby game, as the family has ties to both clubs.
“We are so grateful. It was right from the start, as soon as people found out, we were flooded with messages - ‘how do we help?’, everyone supporting us. Our community is the best. All the support from everyone has been really overwhelming and just shows how loved she is.”
Cherelle says now Ida is in Starship she is optimistic about the future