Like most kids her age, Harper Wade went to school, saw her friends and played netball for Roleystone, living a normal and active life in Seville Grove.
Then something changed, which her family first thought were just normal growing pains.
In June last year at eight years old, Harper began waking up during the night with pain in her left leg and knee.
At first, her mum Jenny was worried her daughter had hurt it playing sport.
“Harper was still trying to play netball at the time, and it was hurting when she was playing,” she said.
“I took her to the doctors, and they had thought she’d injured it at school or at netball.
“There was a bit of inflammation, and it swelled up a bit.
“Our doctor knew us quite well, and because Harper has quite a good pain tolerance, she organised for an ultrasound.”
Despite the first round of blood tests and scans being inconclusive, Harper’s pain only grew worse each day, even with physiotherapy visits.
After another doctor’s visit, Harper had an MRI scan booked in at 8am on a Tuesday morning.
“By 10 past nine, Harper was dropped off at school and I was back at work,” Ms Wade said.
“I was expecting the results in five to seven days but got a phone call from the doctor who said they had arranged an appointment for us at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) because she had osteosarcoma, and they would look after us at the hospital.”
Ms Wade’s husband and Harper’s dad, Evan, had flown out to Adelaide the day before for a work conference and couldn’t answer calls.
Ms Wade said it was “stressful” as she was unable to call anyone about Harper’s diagnosis as she had minimal family in WA since her move from Victoria.
Osteosarcoma is a bone cancer which often develops in the longer bones of the legs near the knees, traditionally in adolescents and early teenagers.
However, after a CT scan at PCH, Harper’s cancer had also spread into her lungs, which meant she underwent three types of chemotherapy in a five-week cycle.
As part of treatment, Harper had many forms of surgery including the removal and replacement of her femur and kneecap.
As this type of cancer is usually found in older youth, the prosthetic for her thigh had to be specially made and shipped from overseas before Harper’s surgery.
Harper’s legs are now slightly different lengths so she gets the most use out of her prosthetic while she’s growing, before she undergoes another surgery in the future for an adjustable femur prosthetic, which she can change more easily as she grows taller.
Ms Wade said she had faced a tough couple of years, as eight months before Harper’s diagnosis, her own mother passed away.
“I thought 2024 was going to be a good year and time to breathe for five minutes,” she said.
“Then we got Harper’s diagnosis, and on the day she went in to get surgery to get her port, my dad had gone in for heart surgery across the road at Sir Charles Gairdner.
“He ended up in acute care for three weeks, so dealing with dad there and Harper’s diagnosis, and still trying to work and function as a human, and keep things normal for my other daughter, it was a massive change.”
Ms Wade said the possibility of her daughter getting cancer again weighs over her.
“It’s scary because it’s highly likely she will get cancer again and that can be at any time,” she said.
“Harper has a mutation of the TP53 gene, the tumor suppressor gene. She has Li-Fraumeni syndrome and so the TP53 should wrap itself around the cancer cells and stop them from multiplying, which the mutation doesn’t.
“She’s also more susceptible to cancers and radiation so we limit any sort of X-Rays and make sure they’re low dose, and limit sun exposure.”
Harper attends physio twice a week, but she said she enjoys hydrotherapy and is excited to use her aquatic skills for her Make-A-Wish dream, which she was recently accepted into.
“I’m going to swim with turtles,” she said.
Despite being faced with cancer, Harper said she was inspired by the nurses who helped her at PCH during her treatment.
“I want to be a nurse,” she said.
“I want to work on the oncology ward, and I want to help kids because they would be the most scared.”
Harper said during her stay in hospital, she felt “scared and sick and bald” because she lost her hair within a few weeks of beginning chemotherapy.
Her older sister shaved her hair in support during one of the family’s fundraisers in March, which was a family day complete with a kid’s bouncy castle and a sausage sizzle, put on by Mundijong State Emergency Services, who the Wades volunteer with.
Just last Saturday, an adult’s trivia and silent auction raised approximately $15,000 to total the money raised to more than $25,000 across the two ‘Harper’s Way’ fundraisers, smashing Ms Wade’s goal of raising $10,000 combined.
Harper enjoyed using the virtual reality sets in the hospital ward and said she wants to use some of the fundraised money to buy more for children in PCH who are undergoing physio and occupational therapy.
The remaining money will be donated to Telethon, who Ms Wade said was one of the organisations which helped the family during Harper’s PCH stay.
“When her netball team found out they did Harper’s round during the last round of the last season, and for this season they did it first round with a Harper’s Spirit award for each team,” she said.
“All of the kids got together and wrote her a little note for Harper to read while she was in the hospital.
“I guess it’s very hard because I’ve never had to ask for help or expected help before. For people to just give to me, it was hard to accept.”
Harper was in and out of PCH for treatment for approximately nine months and has her first quarterly scan next month.
After almost a year of hospital visits, with a group of approximately 40 emotional supporters made up of family, friends and nurses, a smiling Harper rang the bell at PCH to signify being cancer free.
In a pale blue dress, Harper said she was “scared” of all the people watching her ring the bell.
“I looked like Cinderella,” she said.
Throughout the whole cancer treatment and in the follow-up appointments, Harper remained positive, with a smile always on her face.
Harper said she was beginning to feel better.
“I kicked cancer’s butt and now I’m cancer free,” she said.
