2023-12-28 05:00:00
After five long years of waiting, including two spent undergoing chemotherapy treatments, an 11-year-old girl was finally able to live her childhood dream: a week-long trip to Walt Disney in Florida, with her entire family.
Patience is a virtue that Zoé Coulombe, an 11-year-old girl from Quebec, acquired very early on. When she was just 5 years old, Zoe started feeling unusually tired and had bruises in unusual places, like her neck.
Her mother, Nathalie Laberge, quickly went to see a doctor after being alerted by the young girl’s educator about her change in condition. A week after the first consultation, Zoé received her diagnosis at the CHUL: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer that begins in blood stem cells.
“The doctor said it was the easiest leukemia to cure,” recalls Zoé. This is one of the rare pieces of information that she retained, she who was only 5 years old at the time.
She was immediately hospitalized for a month. He was given a “shock” chemotherapy treatment, accompanied by blood transfusions and lumbar punctures.
“You don’t realize it, I was almost angry with the doctor who told you the diagnosis. You’re angry with him, but you know it’s not his fault,” the mother confides.
The beautiful Zoé fought her fight while continuing school. Despite the absences, she successfully completed her school career without falling behind. And despite the more difficult times, the small family put their lives on hold and respected a painful treatment schedule over a period of two years.
We see Zoé in the company of her little brother, Olivier Coulombe, her mother, Nathalie Laberge, and her father, Christian Coulombe. Photo Stevens LeBlanc
A long process towards healing
From 2018 to 2020, Zoé went to the hospital every Wednesday for her chemotherapy, called the Boston protocol. It was necessary to ensure that the disease did not take over after the intensive month-long treatment.
It was in May 2020 that the doctors announced the end of the treatments and informed the family that the remission was going well. At that time, the pandemic was turning life around the entire planet. Zoé unfortunately had to wait until the end of it to realize her dream with Rêves d’enfants, a trip to Florida to go to Disney World.
“I was starting to get a little impatient. I couldn’t wait for the phone to ring to let us know it was our turn. But for at least 2 years, I waited,” says Zoé.
It was last October that Zoé was finally able to make her dream come true. Life works out well, since it was his birthday on October 29th. But more importantly, it was also the time to make way for official healing.
“We loved it, it was the trip of a lifetime,” says the mother.
When you meet Zoé, it’s hard to believe that life has thrown an obstacle as imposing as leukemia in her path. Today, all those bad memories are in the past.
Citation :
“We were wondering what we had done to deserve this. You don’t know and I looked, but there was no reason. It’s an accident of cells and that’s it” – Nathalie Laberge, mother of Zoé Coulombe
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