Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Mum 'eternally grateful' to daycare teacher for identifying son's leukaemia

RNZ
21 Oct, 2020 02:01 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Photo / 123rf

Photo / 123rf

By RNZ

A Bay of Plenty mother says an observant childcare centre may have saved her son's life when they told her something didn't seem quite right with the 2-year-old.

Rata Campbell was yesterday given the good news that her son, Isaac, is now in remission after being diagnosed with leukaemia this year.

"He had been healthy. He hadn't had a lot of issues with his health whatsoever up to this point," she told RNZ's First Up.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"In August, he got tonsilitis at the very start of the month, he'd been at daycare for only two weeks prior to that. He had that, went through a full course of antibiotics. It didn't work, it got him well enough to catch it again.

"So he got it twice, went on a different antibiotic. He got a lot better after that but then it became obvious that something wasn't quite right."

Campbell said she was not the one who realised there was something else wrong.

After coming through that second bout, she said Isaac looked well enough to return to daycare, he was eating well and had more energy. He was still pale, but she put it down to him needing sunshine and fresh air.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"When I went to pick him, one of the teachers came forward and said 'look, I don't want to offend you or anything I just want to help and let you know that I think some things are not quite right here, he just has a shade of colour to his skin that is not right, I feel it's a little bit yellow'.

"I didn't see it immediately but the more we talked, the more she kept drawing a comparison on various parts of his body, I was like 'yeah I see it'."

The teacher suggested she visit a doctor soon and ask for a blood test. The boy was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Campbell said as a mum, she was so focused on seeing Isaac getting better that she missed the sign completely. She is "eternally grateful" for that teacher's help.

"All I saw was my boy's energy's back."

She said the treatment had been working well and he has gone into remission.

Campbell hopes her case serves as a reminder of how important caring and knowledgeable early childhood teachers are.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

17 Jun 04:05 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Walk away enriched': How to celebrate Matariki in Rotorua

17 Jun 04:00 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM

Defence counsel says Mark Hohua died after falling on to concrete steps while fleeing.

CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

17 Jun 04:05 AM
'Walk away enriched': How to celebrate Matariki in Rotorua

'Walk away enriched': How to celebrate Matariki in Rotorua

17 Jun 04:00 AM
‘I’ve been put up on the shelf’: Temuera Morrison laments Star Wars limbo

‘I’ve been put up on the shelf’: Temuera Morrison laments Star Wars limbo

17 Jun 03:16 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP