Alyssia was diagnosed with Metastatic Alveolar fusion positive Rhabdomyosarcoma in February 2021 at Great Ormand Street Hospital only 7 months old. 

At the time of diagnosis she was given 6-18 months. 

Her treatment journey started with 9 intense rounds of chemotherapy which she handled amazingly and always with a smile and a giggle. Regular MRI scans were showing the tumours were shrinking and by her last round of chemotherapy the tumour was minimal, which meant she could be put onto maintenance. This included very small amounts of chemo every few weeks with hardly any side effects.

April 2022 the tumour was increasing in size while on maintenance, this meant new treatment. Great Ormand Street Hospital couldn’t offer Alyssia a new treatment plan but recommended a new trial drug of chemotherapy  at The Royal Marsden hospital. This trial was a 12 cycle chemotherapy plan which she started in June 2022. Half way through the 12 cycles the Marsden team offered 6 weeks of radiotherapy as well to really shrink the tumour. The last few months of 2022 were so incredibly hard for Alyssia always in hospital, and in a lot of discomfort on top of having all the usual side effects of radiation and chemotherapy. Being the princess warrior she was she pulled through and finally finished the trial in March 2023. 

After her latest MRI scan in April 2023, we had the news we never thought we would receive Alyssia was in remission, the cancer wasn’t detected. The rest of 2023 Alyssia lived her life to the fullest, she started nursery, had several holidays, and plenty of memorable days out. She started to really come out of her shell and was loving life.

January 2024 after battling COVID we believed Alyssia to have a chest infection unfortunately this wasn’t the case. X-rays and CT scans discovered the cancer had returned. This cruel cancer had returned between MRI scans so aggressively that it was suffocating her airways. 

We lost Alyssia our ‘Lissy bear’January 2024.

She was 3 and half years old.