Little Lexie marks the end of cancer treatment

Today, the bell at Townsville University Hospital’s paediatric oncology unit will ring out clearly and loudly to signal the successful completion of Lexie Bloxsom’s three-year treatment for leukemia.

Lexie was just four years old when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a cancer that occurs when a bone marrow cell develops errors in the DNA.

Her Mum Toni Bloxsom said when she brought Lexie in to Townsville University Hospital on 4 December 2017 and she asked doctors to rule out leukemia.

“The last thing I expected was for them to rule it in,” she said.

“All you really hear and understand after the diagnoses is that your daughter has cancer.

“We came into hospital on Monday morning and we were flying Brisbane that afternoon for treatment when Lexie had an episode on the plane.

“Those first 24-hours were really touch and go.”

The first year of Lexie’s treatment was almost exclusively in Brisbane while for the last two years Lexie has been able to receive some treatment in Townsville’s paediatric day oncology unit.

Toni said there was a mix of emotions surfacing for the family; Dad Geoff and brothers Cooper and Mitch, as Lexie’s final day of treatment approaches.

“We knew that we had to be positive to get through it. Geoff and I said from day one that Lexie was going to beat this and we tried to stay positive even when the odds were stacked against us.

“(But) there were times when Lexie was in hospital that first year where she was convinced, she was never going to get out of that hospital and see the boys again.

“That first year was really hard but whenever we were able to have her treated in Townsville and she got to be with the family you could see it immediately picked her up.

“I don’t think our worry for Lexie will ever go away and there is some anxiety with her finishing her treatment after such a long time of needing chemo every day.”