Meet Mimi
Four-year-old Mariam or “Mimi” is the youngest of five. She adores her big siblings and they’ll each tell you she’s their favourite!
When Mimi turned one, the little hair she had started falling out. Her parents watched as her eyelashes and eyebrows disappeared.
She began treatment for alopecia, an autoimmune condition that causes hair loss. Her parents were told her hair may never return.
As part of her treatment, she required regular blood tests.
In December 2023, one of these routine blood tests unexpectedly revealed something far more sinister — possible signs of leukaemia.
Mimi was urgently referred to The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH)’s Emergency Department. Mimi’s parents, Mohamad and Fatina were convinced there’d been a mistake. Their bubbly, little girl appeared otherwise healthy.
“She was jumping all around, and she had this good energy,” Fatina said. “How could she be sick?”
Urgent tests confirmed the diagnosis – it was acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a form of cancer.
“I started to scream…I think the whole world heard me,” Mimi’s mum, Fatina explained. “That’s not something any mother wants to hear. I felt like I was in a nightmare.”
It was particularly difficult for Mimi’s mother who lost her own Dad to a brain tumour when she was a child.
But doctors at the RCH had a plan, and Mimi began treatment immediately.
Dr Claudia Toro, a Paediatric Oncologist was one of those doctors.
“No parent wants to hear that their child has been diagnosed with a life-threatening condition,” she explained. “Part of that is acknowledging their fear but also it’s important to let them know that we have a way forward and we will take that step with them.”
It was a welcome encouragement for a family processing unimaginable news.
“She [Dr Toro] put her hand on my shoulder, and she said to me, “don’t worry, we’ve got this,” Fatina recalled.
Mimi was admitted to hospital immediately and underwent intensive chemotherapy to try to induce remission or remove any sign of leukaemia.
“The first six months of her treatment were the hardest,” Fatina recalled. “We felt that we were all sick.”
There were days when Mimi was so unwell she couldn’t open her eyes.
“She didn’t want to wake…she didn’t want to move or want to do anything,” her Dad Mohamad said.
Her parents and siblings took turns to try to cheer her up on those difficult days.
“It was so hard seeing her like this because she was always so full of energy,” Fatina said.
But the treatment was working. Within the first month, tests revealed there was no more cancer; Mimi was in remission.
“That was the best part,” Fatina explains.
“Every parent is waiting for that so that was the happiest moment — I could never forget that.”
To make sure her leukaemia never returns, she’ll need to continue with her chemotherapy for some time. As Dr Claudia Toro explained, the treatment is a sort of step-down approach.
“She starts off on really intensive therapy so she’s an inpatient, or we see her very frequently in outpatients.
“And then, that reduces slightly to a visit every couple of weeks, and then eventually she’ll get to the point where we only see her once a month.”
While she still has a long way to go, her visits to the hospital are less frequent and she’s getting a little stronger and brighter each day.
Now, some of her care can be provided in the comfort of home through the RCH’s Hospital in the Home program, better known as Wallaby.
“They give her medication, change her dressing…I find it so helpful because some days she’s quite sick or, being a mother of five, it’s a bit hard to go into the hospital,” Fatina explained.
Of course, Mimi has made an impression everywhere she goes, and the family have formed a strong bond with her care team.
“They’re not nurses, doctors,” said Mohamad. “They’re our family.”
For Mimi’s Mum Fatina, the support from staff has made all the difference.
“I couldn’t, even imagine myself being so strong…, but because they helped me and acknowledged what’s going on and how caring they were for Mimi, they made me turn into a different person.”
And recently, there’s been one unexpected, much more visible change — Mimi’s hair has slowly started to grow back.
“I got goosebumps and I started to cry,” said Fatina.
“I never got the chance to brush her hair. That’s going to be one of the best things.”
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