A Langford family who lost their home and family business to an electrical fire in January 2011 is now in a fight to save their three-year-old daughter's life, as the toddler battles an extremely rare form of cancer.
Hannah Day has been diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, which doctors say has only been found in three other children in the world.
Hannah's is the only case ever seen at B.C. Children's hospital in Vancouver, where the family has been since Aug. 3.
The noticeable deterioration of Hannah's health began in July when her stomach ballooned until "she looked like she was nine months pregnant," her mother Brooke Ervin said.
Hannah's parents took their daughter to walk-in clinics and to their regular physician to treat the abnormally large belly, but no one could find what was wrong.
Ervin said several doctors misdiagnosed the young girl's illness, suggesting she could be suffering from bad posture or constipation. A naturopath even suggested she had allergies to dairy and gluten. The family physician sent them to Victoria General when it was obvious that Hannah was having difficulty breathing.
She was to get an emergency ultrasound, Ervin said, but they waited at the hospital for hours before being told to come back in the morning.
They stayed, and when she was finally looked at, doctors said they found a "4.5-centimetre mass in her tummy and we were rushed to Children's Hospital in a helicopter," Ervin said.
An ultrasound at B.C. Children's Hospital, however, found Hannah actually had a 15-centimetre cancerous mass that stretched from one side of her stomach to the other.
She receives chemotherapy almost daily and will continue that regimen for the next year, as she battles her stage-four cancer. "I have no time and no money to sue anyone right now," Ervin said. "I'm trying to help my daughter fight for her life."
Hannah underwent three surgeries in the past two weeks before doctors came up with the Rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosis.
"Normal Rhabomyosarcoma is located in one spot and doesn't spread. Hannah's has spread everywhere," Ervin said of the information provided by the specialists. "Because there's so much cancer everywhere, they can't see where the tumor started."
It has not been a good time for the family in the past couple years. They lost everything when an electrical fire tore through their tiny suite on top of the family's welding shop. They were living above the business and saving to buy a home.
Ervin has given up her job as a daycare provider and spends every moment she can by her daughter's bedside. Dad Robert Day has not returned to work at Ramsey's Machine shop in Sidney since going to Vancouver to be with Hannah.
They have little money -- just a $50 food voucher from the hospital. Ervin rarely gets to see her other daughter, 10-month-old Hailey, who has been living with Day's mother in Maple Ridge.
"I've seen her maybe two hours in the last 10 days," she said. "I went from being with her every day to barely getting to see her, but I have so much going on with Hannah right now, I just can't leave her side."
The chemotherapy has weakened Hannah and she won't eat. She now wears a size-three diaper, down from her usual size six.
Mom tries to hold food to her daughter's dried, cracked and bleeding lips, often without success.
"The doctors don't know how long they will allow her to go before sticking a tube down her throat," Ervin said.
A spokeswoman from the Vancouver Island Health Authority said clinical staff reviewed Hannah's patient charts on Monday, and she received "timely and appropriate care" at Victoria General Hospital. "We recognize the stress and anxiety this family must be going through during this difficult time .... The care this little girl received at Victoria General was appropriate given the information available," said the statement.
Friends and family have launched a social-media campaign to raise money for the family. To donate, go to angelsforhannah.com.
