Girl, 4, got rare diagnosis after losing appetite and getting strange bruises

The parents of brave Esha Nadeswaran are urging people to keep an eye out for symptoms of acute myeloid leukaemia

A four-year-old girl was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer after her parents noticed unusual symptoms. Esha Nadeswaran, from Ilford, London, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia - a rare and aggressive cancer affecting the bone marrow and blood.

Now eight, the brave girl's parents, Kavita, 44, and Rish, 48, first noticed symptoms including hair loss, loss of appetite and unexplained bruising. Concerned, they took her for blood tests, expecting to receive the results within a few weeks

However, just hours later, they were urgently called back to the hospital after doctors detected abnormalities in her blood. Shocked by the diagnosis, Esha's parents recalled having "no time to think" as she was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in 2021.

Over the next four months, she endured three intense rounds of high-dose chemotherapy, but the cancer proved too resilient and resistant to treatment. Esha urgently needed a life-saving bone marrow transplant, and her family was given just two weeks to find a donor.

Fortunately, a match was found—an 80% compatible donor from Singapore. In October 2021, Esha underwent the transplant, with doctors warning her family that she had only a 30% chance of surviving beyond five years.

Following her return home, her parents dedicated themselves to her care, waking up at 4am every day for two years to administer the 35 medications she needed throughout the day. However, in the past year, Esha has made progress - rejoining school and reducing her daily medications down to just five. Kavita said: "We're taking it one day at a time - there's still so much worry, fear and anxiety and things can swing and it can come back.

"It's like living on eggshells. Now we're at home but the first two years afterward it was very tough. She has a tendency to fall and trip as her bones are a little weaker now and she'll be left with lifelong problems with organs, growth and hormones. But this is the new normal for us, the new okay."

Esha's parents began noticing her symptoms around two months before her diagnosis and they were unsure as to what it was. Kavita said: "We were in Covid lockdown and everything was all virtual.

"When the symptoms started coming along we started getting nervous about what it could be. When we got that diagnosis I couldn't breathe, I felt like I'd been crushed.

"But there was no time to think. From there it was a whirlwind of events - all your darkest fears and thoughts race through your head."

Upon arriving at GOSH, Esha was started on chemotherapy treatment almost immediately. Kavita said: "After the first round they thought she was responding, but as we approached the third cycle we were told she hadn't been responding.

"She had all the chemo in the space of four months. When we came back for that 3rd cycle before the transplant we just assumed we'd have that and move onto the transplant.

"But we were told that the 3rd cycle hadn't been working either so they then spoke to us about end-of-life care. We were shocked, we didn't realise it was all dependent on the outcome of that 3rd cycle."

They decided to press on with the transplant anyway and, after finding the donor, she underwent surgery. Kavita said: "Following the transplant, we started seeing some progress in her bloods but you don't get too fixated on things as it can always return.

"The five months following the transplant were really difficult for us. The donor cells were attacking her body so they had to dampen her immunity.

"We also had to get her to be able to eat orally again - she hadn't been able to have a sip water for over seven months. It wasn't easy. The transplant was very aggressive.

"She came home in February 2022 but she was on 35 medications to be given three times a day. The day would start at 4am and that's how we lived for the next year and a half to two years."

For Esha, a big part of her recovery was through the help of the Play team from the GOSH Charity. Kavita said: "The very first gift they gave her was a bald Barbie and it helped her come to terms with the fact that she would be losing her hair and that bald is beautiful too.

"The music therapy she loved - it was a way of getting everything out and thrashing the drums, learning all the songs. The Play team were also there every day throughout treatment to keep Esha distracted, bring some normality into her days and of course putting lots of smiles on her face."

GOSH Charity exists to give seriously ill children the best chance and the best childhood possible, until no childhood is lost to serious illness. To find out more or to donate, visit gosh.org/.