For all our English-speaking friends and family, here’s an adapted version of the email François sent to French family and friends :

Most of you are aware of the situation so I’ll give you the medical details which Francois announced in his email. Cecile has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, type B. The illness was discovered because Cecile had complained of a lump behind her ear and she appeared tired. Not totally unexpected at the end of the year with a music theory exam, a show for the dance school where she performed both ballet and tap dancing and then a concert where she played the piano to accompany a trumpet player. All of this followed by a belated joint birthday party when Cecile and her friends had a make-up competition, played Just Dance on the Wii and had fun in the swimming pool. Two days later we took her to the doctor who could find no explanation for her swollen glands and prescribed a blood test. The biologist from the laboratory told us the results were alarming and we should go to A&E immediately. Thanks to help from the doctors in Francois’ family, we were admitted without any waiting in A&E at the children’s hospital in Paris which has hematology department. The verdict was given the following day, the 25th June and Cecile’s life suddenly took a different path.

This type of leukemia, ALL, has one of the best recovery rates. Of course, we are not expecting anything short of total recovery. But the battle will be long and difficult. Cecile will be in hospital until at least the 7th August. She has already had several transfusions of hemoglobin and platelets. If any of you feel inspired by her story to give blood, please do. We can only thank those who give blood regularly, enabling our daughter to be strong to fight her personal battle. She has started chemotherapy, has had a catheter installed to inject chemo, has regular blood tests, blood transfusions and is on corticosteroids for at least a month. The nausea and vomiting has already been experienced and the corticosteroids mean that Cecile has a sugar-free, salt-free diet. She’s coping but is already dreaming of all the things she will be able to eat when she leaves hospital. When she ate her coco pops with milk this morning she said she will never take good food for granted again!

When Cecile comes home in August she won’t be able to lead a normal life straight away. Chemotherapy will be part of her life for at least 2 and a half years. Initially she won’t be able to go to school and must be under surveillance at home in case of a temperature or any other medical symptom which will mean going immediately to hospital. I will be stopping work in September in order to look after her.

She’s being very strong and has a very positive attitude. She is even able to joke about the fact she always complained about going to school and now she will probably want to be there, to be a ‘normal’ adolescent. She won’t be able to do ballet and tap but we are arranging for her to continue her piano lessons – the fact that her piano teacher is a very good friend and a lovely person will help this plan go ahead.

There will also be all the other aspects of her life which will change – the secondary effects which will probably cause hair loss – such a problem for any woman and even more so for a young girl who is conscious of her physical appearance. But Cecile is even able to laugh about that – saying we can draw hair on the mirror so it’s not so upsetting when she looks at herself.

We are amazed with how Cecile has been able to assimilate so much information in so short a period of time. Of course there have been tears. This is only the start. But we are confident and we are strong and so is Cecile. We are counting on all of you to help us overcome this illness. During this initial period of confinement, which has suddenly upset all our plans of trips to England, a holiday in Germany with close friends and our usual holiday in Annecy with the lake and the mountains, we would like you to allow Cecile to travel virtually by sending her postcards from wherever you may be spending your holidays this summer.You should all know our address – if not, don’t hesitate to ask us for it by email.

We will try to keep this blog updated regularly so you can follow Cecile’s progress.

With love,

Jane and Francois