Elsie’s story: dinosaurs, stem cells and a trip to the seaside

Who does this cheeky face belong to? Come and meet Elsie!

As you might have guessed, Elsie is happiest when she’s out and about. Here she is on the beach in Filey – but more on that later.

Her mum, Laura said: “Elsie is very outdoorsy – in the garden, the woods, walking in the park. Although she’s also obsessed with dinosaurs!”

Four-year-old Elsie first came to Sheffield Children’s as an emergency transfer in Feb 2022. Within 24 hours she had gone through her first surgery before recovering on our wards and being diagnosed with very severe aplastic anaemia.

Aplastic anaemia is a condition which affects the blood. It means that the bone marrow – the spongy centre of bones where blood cells are formed – and stem cells do not produce enough blood cells. It is also known as bone marrow failure.

Laura explains: “Elsie relies on transfusions to keep her alive. The failing bone marrow led to her having no effective immune system. Our first stay was for a week, and then we began coming in twice a week for platelets transfusion – to replace those which Elsie couldn’t produce for herself anymore – and then blood transfusions every ten days.

“From when it started, it felt like a ton of bricks. Everyone at the hospital has been so supportive though, just amazing.

“They figured her out – and me. They know how to work with us. We’ve felt spoiled here and it was scary for the one time we went to a hospital that wasn’t Sheffield Children’s. It’s become our second home and it’s the team that has made it like that.”

To replace the failing bone marrow in Elsie’s bones, she needed a stem cell transplant. This first meant having chemotherapy, to completely remove any of the failing bone marrow before it was replaced.

While recovering from the transplant, Elsie and Laura stayed at Sheffield Children’s for two months.

“We were away from my other little girl, Maya, which was very difficult. It’s been impossible for us to spend time away from the hospital or home. We were essentially in isolation as a family due to the lack of immunity.”

PACT up and ready for a trip to the seaside

The PACT Charity (Parents Association of Children with Tumours and Leukaemia) is based within Sheffield Children’s Hospital. They provide practical support by purchasing equipment for Ward 6, the school room, Haematology and Oncology clinic, and for the community nurses who look after children in their own homes.

They also go a step further, providing trips away for families in Filey and Berwick-on-Tweed, and Flamborough. These facilities provide a welcome opportunity for families like Elsie’s to take a little break and spend some quality family time together.

Laura said: “We met PACT during our very first stay and they’ve been invaluable to us. That first time they brought a coffee, dinner and even stayed for a chat. Just having an adult conversation and feeling like you yourself are also being looked after – it’s invaluable. They also provided advice about finances too.

“We’d had no experience of packing a bag and going somewhere other than the hospital – never as a family – so I was very excited for the girls to have a change of scenery, spend time on the beach, and just have those new little experiences.

“We had the most wonderful week! It was our first holiday, and it was filled with so many other firsts for Elsie and Maya too!”

Elsie and her family ticked off lots of seaside favourites on their week away, including chips by the water, ice cream, sandcastle building, boating, steam trains – they even met some sharks, although thankfully this was only in the aquarium!

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Meet @ayorkshiremama

Laura is also known by @ayorkshiremama on Instagram, where she shares updates with friends and family about Elsie’s journey.

She said: “Awareness was the biggest thing for me when setting up the Instagram account. We were told at the start that Elsie would need infusions and a stem cell transplant. It was a drive to get people to sign up for the bone marrow registry.

“That was the original reason, but it became a support network for us too.”

Thank you to Elsie and Laura for sharing your story.

You can join the blood stem cell register by visiting DKMS or Anthony Nolan. Remember you can also donate blood by registering with NHS Blood and Transplant.