Maria Watt

My thanks to everyone who has left candles, written tributes, posted pictures or
gifts for Maria's 21st Birthday and for her anniversary - there are so many it
it really helped this past couple of weeks knowing how much you all care. With
love to you and all your precious angels....Diane x

Our beautiful daughter Maria was taken from us by an illness we knew little about. Our beloved Maria
was born in Birmingham on July 06, 1988 and passed away on July 09, 2005 at the age of 17.

Maria was a beautiful, caring, intelligent girl whose life was cruelly cut short by the diagnosis of
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

We will love, miss and remember Maria forever.

The words to the song playing are those of Randy Owen. He has written this song which highlights
the courage and determination of all our youngsters diagnosed with cancer. All proceeds from the
download of this song are going to a childrens cancer charity and our donation has been made.

Teenage and cancer are two words one never hopes to hear in the same sentence.

On 16 June 2005 our daughter Maria was diagnosed with leukaemia. She began treatment straight away
but only three weeks after the initial diagnosis, she got a nasty virus. We lost her the very next
day. It was three days after her 17th birthday.

We had very little time to digest the fact that Maria had been diagnosed with this cruel illness.
Doctors and nurses were very reassuring, saying she had a 70-80 per cent chance of survival, but it
never entered our heads that there was a 20-30 per cent chance the other way too.

Following the initial diagnosis and tears, Maria showed exceptional bravery. The next day she began
phoning her friends. I really admired the way she just said “I’m in hospital and I’ve got
leukaemia”. I even heard her laughing on the phone. From that point on I knew she was up for the
fight. Taking her lead, so were we.

All thoughts about cancer left our minds and the word leukaemia didn’t sound too bad. The days and
weeks that followed were spent visiting Maria in hospital and lifting her spirits. Friends, family,
everyone came. Her friends from school brought her hats – the one thing that was upsetting her was
the thought that she would lose her beautiful blonde hair. She turned to me one evening and started
the conversation “Mom. . .” I knew something was coming as I recognised the way she said
“Mom”.

She said “I’ve come to terms with losing my hair – I’ve got more important things to think
about haven’t I!” I admired her bravery, but underneath I knew that this was the one thing she
was not coming to terms with. I was glad she was worried – it meant she wasn’t worrying too much
about the leukaemia.

However, despite her bravery and courage, Maria contracted a virus only three weeks after diagnosis,
which proved too much for her immune system after such intense chemotherapy.

Losing our precious Maria to leukaemia, which we thought was curable, has been as destructive as the
illness itself.

Our hearts are broken and our lives devastated – no parent should hear the words “I’m sorry,
your child has cancer”, let alone “I’m sorry, there’s nothing more we can do”. The only
way I can describe how we feel now is that someone has ripped out our hearts, scrunched them up,
trampled on them, put them back in and said “now go on – get on with it”.

Sadly Maria’s story is not as rare as you may think. Every day in the UK, six teenagers or young
adults are diagnosed with cancer. That’s six families who will have been sat down by a consultant
and told the devastating news that we were told. Six more will be told that tomorrow and six more
the day after and so on.

To be diagnosed with cancer is distressing at any stage of life, but it is particularly hard for a
teenager to deal with. They are old enough to fully comprehend what being diagnosed with cancer
means, yet are still so young to deal with the emotional strain that comes with having such an
illness.

These young people, in the midst of their already difficult journey to adulthood, suddenly find
themselves faced with a possible life-threatening illness. Many must put life on hold, just as it is
starting to take off.

Since Maria’s untimely death, life is very difficult but I try to focus my grief on doing
something positive, so I decided to set up a charity in her memory: The Maria Watt Birmingham
Foundation for Childhood & Teenage Leukaemia
www.mwb-leukaemia.org.uk

If this could happen to my 17 year-old daughter who ate healthily, led an active life, didn’t
smoke, didn’t drink; in essence did all the things we are told to do for a healthy lifestyle, then
it can happen to anyone.

The main aim of the charity is to make as many parents and teenagers aware of the signs and symptoms
of leukaemia, as some can be easy to dismiss: Headaches, lethargy, pains in the backs of the legs
and swelling of the stomach are all common teenage ailments. As parents, we know our children best
and we should not just dismiss these signs. We hope that this increased awareness will result in
earlier diagnosis, in turn leading to earlier treatment and hopefully a better prognosis for the
future.

Since Maria’s death our family unit has changed beyond recognition. Our relationships have
changed. Imagine a stool with four legs. If one leg of the stool is cut off, what happens?

The past few years have gone by in a blur and not a minute has passed when I haven’t thought about
her. She would be 20 now and I can’t help but wonder what her life would be like had she
survived.

All we can hope is that by raising awareness of teenage cancer, we will prevent other families
having to go through what we have.