Danika's Inspiring Story

TH PITTS FAMILY

TH PITTS FAMILY E

The Pitts Family

Our names are Tash and Scott.

Our daughter Danika is now 6, she has two sisters Matilda 10, and Georgia 8. We live in a small country town called Brunswick 2 hours south of Perth.

In September 2020 our world was turned upside down when our five-year-old girl Danika, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. We were diagnosed and two weeks later Danika was scheduled for lengthy brain surgery.

The House

This required us to be in hospital (ICU and on the ward) for about ten days. I stayed in the hospital with Danika while my husband spent his days with us and nights over at Ronald McDonald House. This allowed him to sleep well at night and for me to sneak over during the day for a nap if we had a rough night in the hospital.

Also, each afternoon around 4.30 pm I would head over to Ronald McDonald House for a hot shower, a beautiful home-cooked meal and then change over with Scott, so he could be there for the second dinner serving time.

A few nights in the middle of the night we had to rush to ED - Looking out the window and seeing the hospital eased our minds.

Danika’s illness

Our second stay was much longer, it came with a very unexpected outcome - that Danika’s tumour was much more aggressive and required more treatment and a second lengthy surgery. Danika had her second surgery and commenced a clinical trial.

She was the only one in Australia to be on this type of trial. Our Oncologist prepared us “you won’t be going home for a while” and he wanted us to stay “within twenty mins” of the hospital.

This was because he didn’t know much about the drug, the possible side effects and if it would work. Ronald McDonald House then became our home away from home for about 3 months.

Keeping families close

During our lengthy stay our older girls initially remained home with grandparents while Danika was with us.

After our big girls completed the school year, they joined us at Ronald McDonald House.

The fact we could all be together - particularly in the lead up and at Christmas got us through such a difficult time.

Our family of five was together again. We felt like nothing mattered but just being together and this just felt “home”.

Our moments of hope

A stand-out moment for us is Christmas Day where we had lunch with other families and volunteers.

Danika using her new makeup kit to do Sarah Stevens’ (FLO) make up!

The kids playing, laughing and learning in the school.

Watching another family get to go home after 4 months.

We were gifted Scorcher tickets, where we had an outing for the day and felt like a totally normal family (without a sick child).

The kids getting to mingle with other kids in the House, playing and learning with them helps break up the day.

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