Poppy Pickett has had more than a lifetime’s worth of medical poking and prodding, with transfusion after transfusion, endless visits to hospitals and specialists, and months in isolation. And she’s only five years old. 

Poppy was diagnosed with Diamond-Blackfan Anaemia (DBA) just six weeks after she was born. DBA is a rare disease in which the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough red cells, leading to chronic anaemia. It is often managed with steroids and blood transfusions but in severe cases, like Poppy’s, a bone marrow transplant from a donor is the best hope for a cure. 

For the first years of her life, Poppy endured over 50 blood transfusions, countless hospital stays and constant monitoring. It wasn’t until early 2023, when Poppy was almost four years of age, that her mother Emma got a life-changing call to say a matched bone marrow donor had been found.  

“It’s all so crazy. You learn that your child is really sick, and that the transplant is hard going without any guarantee of success. Poppy’s disease is rare, so our doctors couldn’t give us any real stats for chance of survival. We just had to go in blind. That’s really scary, to have to make a decision like that for your child.”

Despite the uncertainty, Poppy’s family made the brave decision to proceed with the transplant, taking a leap of faith that it would bring a cure for her Diamond-Blackfan Anaemia. 

Emma and Poppy moved from their home in Cairns to Brisbane, some 1,600 km away, for the transplant and ongoing care at Queensland Children’s Hospital. At the same time, Poppy’s grandmother moved from Brisbane up to Cairns so that Hunter (Poppy’s older brother) could keep going to school. 

What followed was a long period of treatment with chemotherapy, lack of appetite, hair loss, pain, graft v. host disease, and many months in hospital, much of it in isolation. 

“It was such a long time to be away from my boy. I missed him so much,” Emma said. 

But the journey wasn’t just physically and emotionally draining, it was financially devastating as well. “We had so much going on,” Emma said. “Moving to Brisbane, being separated from Hunter and my mum, and not being able to work… it was really tough. I used up all my carers leave at work, and then ended up on leave without pay for the rest of the time. I went from my full time pay to getting a small Centrelink payment, but it wasn’t even enough to cover my rent.” 

Thankfully, the hospital’s social workers stepped in to help. “They were great in helping us get through. They managed to negotiate a rent reduction on my home in Cairns, and they put us in touch with Arrow for financial support. Arrow was there for us from the start. They helped us in covering some of our bills that were piling up – including electricity, internet, and even our much-needed car service. It gave us one less thing to worry about at a very uncertain time.” 

Today Poppy is five years old. Her hair has grown back, she’s returned to school, and she’s loving gymnastics and soccer. Things are starting to return to something resembling normal life. It might look to the outside world like their tough times are all over and all that remains is to ‘get on with it’, but that’s just not the case. 

Emma said, “We are still now, even a year and a half after her transplant, having to fly down to Brisbane every six months for appointments. We’re doing pretty well now, but I know families who were in having transplants at the same time as Poppy, and they’re still in hospital.” 

The emotional impact of the experience has been profound. “It’s been a lot for us all to deal with,” Emma said. “Hunter has been affected by it just as much as Poppy. He used to get teased at school. The kids would say really mean things like ‘Your sister has cancer and she’s going to die.’ It was awful for him.” 

Despite it all, the bond between the siblings has grown stronger. “Hunter and Poppy are now really close. He was the one who gave her her meds every morning. And she’s really grown quite dependent on him, so that’s something else we’ll have to deal with at some point. We all carry a lot of trauma from this process. We’ve had help from a psychologist, but I know there will be lots more that we will have to address as the kids get older.” 

When asked if there was anything she’d learned from the experience and throughout these years of being such a strong mum for her two kids, Emma answered, “Tomorrow’s not promised. We try to live every day to the full and be grateful for what we have right now. And any day not in hospital is a good day!” 

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Arrow’s patient support program is here to help patients before, during, and after transplants no matter whether it is to treat a blood cancer, or a rare disease like Poppy’s Diamond-Blackfan Anaemia. We offer both financial support and information/emotional support through our online information books, podcasts, webinars and patient support groups. 

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