18-month-old Olivia was a normal, happy child, who loved to play with the family's golden retriever and go to playgroup with her mother Karen. But almost overnight she changed.
"She wouldn't leave my side," recalls Karen. "She clung to me and cried if I tried to put her down, and she always seemed poorly."
Soon Olivia started having nosebleeds and developed a rash. She was in terrible pain.
"Within two hours of seeing a doctor at the hospital," Karen says, "we were told Olivia had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia."
Over the next two years, Olivia had chemotherapy to treat her cancer, and many blood transfusions to replace the red blood cells and platelets destroyed by the treatment.
All seemed to be going well until Olivia developed a limp. The leukaemia was back. Doctors suggested a bone marrow transplant. Both parents were tested to see if they could donate, but the match wasn't close enough. The doctors searched the bone marrow registries to find a donor. They were lucky: it took just two months.
Karen says, "We are just so grateful to the bone marrow donor whose generosity has let Olivia grow into the bubbly little girl she is today."
