THE PARENTS of a Redditch toddler who was rushed to intensive care after being diagnosed with cancer in her lung have spoken of their joy at seeing her start nursery.
Natalie Harris and Rob Johnson were devastated when scans showed Jada’s suspected chest infection was actually caused by a tumour that had spread across her lungs.
She was diagnosed with a rare children’s cancer called pleuropulmonary blastoma and put into an induced coma to help her body cope with chemotherapy.
Treatment meant she had to spend Christmas Eve 2023 in hospital but this Christmas was a very different experience.
After major surgery and specialist radiotherapy, Jada is now well enough to attend nursery and has received a Cancer Research UK for Children and Young People Star Award.
Natalie said: “She’s been through such a lot, but she never stopped smiling during her chemotherapy treatment and procedures. She’s such a strong fighter.”
There is no judging panel because the charity believes every child diagnosed with cancer deserves special recognition.
The awards are open to all under 18s who live in the UK and have been treated for the disease within the past five years.
Jada was first taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in August 2023 after mum Natalie noticed a change in her breathing.
Natalie added: “We thought she was coming down with a bug or a cold but when her breathing got worse, we took her to A&E.
“They didn’t think it was anything to worry about, but they did an x-ray to be sure and that’s when they found the whole of her left lung had completely collapsed.
“They said they didn’t know how she’d gone so long without symptoms.”
Jada was sent to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where she was put into an induced coma to begin 25 weeks of chemotherapy.
Her dad Rob said: “We were expecting it to be an infection that could be treated by antibiotics so when they sat us in a room and told us she had a tumour, time stood still and we both just froze.
“It was a very emotional and upsetting time. Just terrifying.
“The cancer took up three quarters of her chest and it was pushing her lungs and heart over the right-hand side.
“We didn’t know what the outcome was going to be, but we wanted to know how we could get the most out of the time we had left with her.”
Pleuropulmonary blastoma arises in immature cells during development and affects the lung tissue. It occurs most often in babies and young children but can affect adults.
After nearly three weeks in intensive care, Jada was able to breathe unaided and, by April this year, chemotherapy had shrunk the tumour enough for surgeons to attempt to remove it.
Rob said: “The first course of radiotherapy was quite intense, but she became much more resilient by the second course.
“It got to the point she’d get excited about going to the hospital because she would love helping the nurses. Now she says she wants to be a doctor.”
Despite being hopeful, tests showed the surgery had not caught all of the cancer, so Jada needed to go to Manchester for 25 sessions of specialist Proton Beam Therapy in July.
In November Jada was able to start nursery and is looking forward to starting primary school this year.
Natalie said: “Seeing her start nursery has been amazing.
“She’s missed out on so much through her treatment and there was a time when we didn’t think she was ever going to get better so it’s incredible to see her doing so well now.”
