As part of Sarcoma Awareness Month this July, 11-year old Glaswegian Morven Macdonald is sharing her journey with a rare type of cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, in a film produced by national childhood cancer charity, Children with Cancer UK.
Morven was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in January 2020 when she was seven years old. A few months earlier in November 2019, her mother Cara noticed a slight drooping in her left eyelid and thinking it was the development of a lazy eye, took her to the optician.
Cara explains:
In just a few weeks, the drooping eyelid had drooped down further and had begun to bulge outwards and had turned purple. We were very alarmed by the appearance of the eye and chased up for an MRI. A tumour was found, and a biopsy followed. A very long and terrifying week later we were given the results that it was cancer. It was found the cancer was localised but would need immediate treatment of nine rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Our world was turned upside down.In September 2020 after months of treatment, we were given the news that the cancer had gone and the treatment had been successful. She is now almost three years all clear and we can’t even believe it happened. All we can do is hope and pray she stays well. Morven loves playing football.
When asked in the Real Stories film, she said that her greatest achievement so far was to be signed by Rangers Academy:
My family are big Rangers fans and since I was young, I’d always think ‘I want to be playing for them’. I’ve always tried to achieve to try and get there. To play for Chelsea and have five Ballon d’Ors when I’m 21. I achieve high.
Her message to other children and young people going through cancer journeys:
Just because you are in the hospital it doesn’t mean you have to stop. Whenever you get a chance, get out, keep fit and just do the things you want to do. You don’t need to think of yourself as different to anyone else.
Sarcomas are rare types of cancer that develop in the supporting tissues of the body, such as bone, muscle or cartilage. There are two main types of sarcoma, soft tissue sarcomas and bone sarcomas. More than half of all soft tissue sarcoma diagnosed in childhood are rhabdomyosarcoma. Children for Cancer UK has released a film on soft tissue sarcoma as part of their 12 Groups of Cancer campaign.
