There are stories that children should not live, and of course going through cancer is one of them. That is why I am so happy to spread the news like the one in Cambridge a few days ago. Alice Rossington, twelve, celebrates the end of her chemotherapy treatment with her family and hospital staff after eight months of fighting.
The bell ring is a tradition in some hospitals and means that a person is almost cancer-free or has successfully completed their treatment. It is part of a small ceremony that is done to say goodbye to the patient who finally goes home. A poem is recited and the patient gives three bells, a simple gesture that is a symbol of hope and strength.
Cambridge University Hospitals shared on their Facebook account Alice's farewell video, which is really very emotional:
Alice began to feel a pain in her leg in October last year, but doctors thought they were growing pains. Then he had back pain, which was attributed to sciatica. But seeing that they did not stop in February, a scan was performed that revealed that he had a osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, in the thigh.
He turned twelve in the hospital and finally on Tuesday, October 17, After 18 rounds of chemotherapy, he was finally able to ring the bell. Now he is at home; He has a long rehabilitation and hope that in January he can attend school again.
The chemotherapy campaign
A chemotherapy treatment is something very hard to overcome for anyone, and even more so for a child. The idea of the "chemotherapy campaign" helps them to the sessions are a bit more tolerable for patients, since it gives them something to aspire to.
It is a campaign that only chemotherapy patients can ring when they celebrate the end of their treatment plan. When patients give the bell, they also recite the next poem:
"Ring this bell
Three times well
It's hard to say clearly
My treatment is done
Has come to an end
And I'm on my way. "
