Charli Sparkes battle with leukaemia has been made easier thanks to the support of her Riverland community
CHARLI Sparkes has been through more than any five-year-old should have to endure, but for Christmas she wants to say thanks to the big-hearted community back home in the Riverland.
Charli’s father Peter died unexpectedly of a sudden cardiac arrest at their Barmera home in the early hours of his 40th birthday in May last year.
Peter and wife Tracey Vogelsang had been partners since their teenage years and had children Charli, now five, and Jade, three.
When Charli started in Reception at Monash Primary School in January, the family was still getting over the grief of losing Mr Sparkes. Then Ms Vogelsang became increasingly worried about Charli’s complaints of not feeling well.
With a hearing test booked in at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital last July, Ms Vogelsang took Charli to the emergency department. Tests showed she had leukaemia.
“My world turned upside down in an instant,” she said.
“My bright little girl had been through so much with the loss of her father and here we were wondering what the future would now hold. It was devastating.”
Charli has since been through six rounds of chemotherapy and faces a seventh and final round in the new year.
The chemo is only half the battle. Ms Vogelsang, 41, had to relocate from Barmera in July because of Charli’s ongoing treatment at WCH, leaving Jade in the care of sister-in-law Sally Muller in Barmera. She had worked for National Foods for 18 years until it closed and now works at Nippy’s, which has given her compassionate leave.
Ms Muller brings Jade to Adelaide every nine days or so, but Ms Vogelsang has been back to Barmera for only two days since July, due to Charli regularly contracting infections and being admitted to the WCH because her immunity is compromised by the chemotherapy.
Mother and daughter are staying at the Childhood Cancer Association’s Michael Rice Units in Prospect, but it is tough financially as well as emotionally.
Enter the big hearts of the Riverland. A host of community fundraising events have helped ease the financial pressure so the family can concentrate on getting Charli back to good health.
“The Riverland people have been just fantastic — they saw a beautiful girl who has had a rough trot and rallied to help and we can’t thank them enough,” Ms Vogelsang said.
“Charli has her moments, good and bad, and misses her father, sister and friends terribly, but she really wants to pass on a big Christmas thank you for the support we have received, including to the Childhood Cancer people who have helped out with the unit.
“It is hard not having my husband and the girls being apart — what I would really like for Christmas is good health for my girls and for my family to be together.”