School girl battles leukaemia with strength and TikTok

Mia Theron was just 10 years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in August last year, and her family went from enjoying life to spending it on high alert and in and out of hospital.

“At first, they just told me I had leukaemia, which in the back of my mind I did think was cancer, but then I dismissed that, thinking I can’t have cancer. Then they told me it was a type of cancer. I was shocked and scared,” said Mia.

Rene Theron, Mia’s mom, told the SA Jewish Report, “The biggest shock is when you first hear the word ‘leukaemia’. I’ve never known much about it, other than it’s a cancer. I didn’t even know if it was curable. So you start asking: does this mean that my child’s going to die? Then we were told that the survival rate was exceptionally high, but there’s a three-year treatment road ahead to get to that point of no more chemo.”

It all began when Mia had pain in her arms and legs and one day, when the pain was too much to bear, she put a TransAct patch over where it hurt. When she took the patch off, there was a large purple bruise in the shape of the patch. “At first, we thought we must have pulled it off incorrectly or something, and didn’t think too much about it,” said Mia.

However, after school the next day, Mia had a nosebleed which lasted three and a half hours. It spurred her mom to take Mia to a hospital to find out what was going on.

Mia was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on 20 August. Three days later, she began a treatment plan at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre that would last three to four years.

Out of 342 days of treatment so far, Mia has spent 142 days in hospital. She is considered high risk because she has iAMP21, which is a genetic mutation of the leukaemia, therefore necessitating stronger treatment and longer stays in hospital for high-risk block treatments.

As a result, Mia has had seizures and avascular necrosis, a condition where bone tissue dies because it doesn’t get enough blood supply. The latter has led to some of the bones in her foot dying, necessitating three operations so doctors could clean out the infection in her foot.

Over and above that, in less than one year, Mia has had 18 blood transfusions and about 14 platelet transfusions.

Said Rene, “During the first couple of weeks, we kept thinking the doctors had made a big mistake and someone was going to find themselves in big trouble. It was so hard to wrap our heads around the fact that this was real. So, we battled with that while listening to so many big words and all we could expect with the treatment.

“Mia is the strongest human being I’ve ever met in my life,” said her mother. “She’s had some really, really, really rough days. And then she’s had some really, really good days.

“She works with a tutor when she’s at home to stay up to date with her schoolwork. In the two tests she was able to write before she was admitted back into hospital, she got 93% for maths, and 83% for English. She has just been an incredible human being through every single hurdle she’s come across.”

At the beginning of her journey, Mia started posting what was effectively a diary of her journey on TikTok. She not only follows TikTok trends, but shares what she’s going through, the good and the bad.

“I would have started a TikTok account even if I didn’t get cancer because I’ve always wanted to have a one,” said Mia, “I thought that it would be a nice way to keep my mind off it. Even though I’m documenting my cancer, it was also a way to feel like I had someone to talk to.”

Rene said that though Mia is going through it, the entire family has been affected and is always watching and cheering her on from the sidelines. “She is the one going through all of this physically, mentally, and emotionally, but we sit behind her and alongside her, with our own battles along the way,” she said.

They have been assisted by DL Link, a Jewish organisation that helps people to battle cancer. In fact, DL Link chose Mia to be one of its poster girls for its latest fundraising campaign.

“The DL Link people arrive as soon as they hear Mia is in hospital with something, whether it’s to keep her busy or to just make her smile, or a balloon, TV, or a blanket,” said Rene. “They literally just give us solutions to problems we didn’t know we had. When you’re going through something like this, people always ask, ‘What can I do?’ and you never know what the answer is because you just don’t know what people can do for you. You’re literally just trying to survive every single day. To have them come and know what we need without asking has been the biggest blessing.”

Niki Seberini, the host of the DL Link show on ChaiFM, said Mia represented the journey taken by cancer warriors. “There are some days when she’s doing her dances on TikTok, and some days where she makes videos from her bed. That’s so refreshing in a world where everything is so edited and curated. People want to project a perfect version of themselves. At Mia’s age, you don’t want to stick out, you don’t want to be the sick one or the bald one. But she has taken on everything that she has been dealt with courage, strength, and positivity,” Seberini said.

Said Mia, “It’s been hard. Some days have been very hard, but on other days, I just appreciate how far we’ve come.”