Desperate Mother Emails 130 Doctors After Daughter Given Months to Live, Only Gets 1 Response
Rene Nel had always wanted a daughter. She and her husband were already blessed with three children, but when Linke was born she had everything she wanted.
For the first 14 months, Linke was everything a normal, healthy baby girl should be. But at around 14 months of age, something changed.
Linke came down with pneumonia, and nothing was helping. Her parents, concerned, took her to a doctor — but the doctor urged them to seek help at a larger hospital.
Because they lived on a farm in South Africa, they had to make a four-hour drive to the nearest hospital that could help them.
At the hospital, Linke’s parents received devastating news: their perfect little girl had leukemia.
They started treatments, but doctors still warned them that Linke wasn’t going to make it to her second birthday.
“When you’ve been told your child is going to die,” said Renee, “we couldn’t accept that, and we vowed to fight with everything until the end.”
She set out to scour the internet to find an alternative, refusing the grim prognosis the local doctors gave her.
After sending out 130 emails, asking for help, she got only one reply. A Westmead Hospital doctor, Dr. Luciano Dalla-Pozza, finally responded.
Dalla-Pozza said she might be able to help, but the family would have to move to Australia — and with no guarantee that the treatments would be successful.
“Moving was hard but when you’re not given a choice, the only option is to give your child a chance at life. We just had to do it,” said Renee.
And it was a good thing they made the leap of faith. After a month of being part of the clinical trial, Linke was in remission.
“I see life in a total different way. I’m thankful for the smallest things, even the naughty bits,” said Renee.
“Every day in the life of Linke is remarkable. Just the way she jumps up and does a ballet turn, and a little curtsy afterwards, the thankfulness you have towards that is just…it’s an everyday thing.’’
Since that original pessimistic diagnosis, Linke has celebrated not two but six birthdays. She’s beaten the odds.
Linke’s life is proof that a mother’s love and determination is a force to be reckoned with. Renee was unwilling to accept that her daughter was dying, and because of that and help from some skilled doctors, Linke is still here today.
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