Seventeen-year-old cancer fighter Alma van Heerden is elated to be back at school. The plucky teen, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoma leukaemia in 2018, returned to class on Friday, 14 February. “It was tough in the beginning, but everyone has been really nice and they were excited to see me, which made it easier.”
Alma was in the third term of Grade 10 when she got sick in October 2018, but fortunately her marks were good enough for her to pass the year and she has now started Grade 11, although she should have been in matric this year. “I still see my old classmates during break and I’m making new friends.”
She returned to school for a few days in the second week of the school term, but unfortunately her blood counts were not stabilising and she didn’t feel great, so her parents opted to keep her home. “We are hopeful that her counts will stay good enough for her to be back, with only interruptions when she has to go for check-ups,” said her mother Hannelize.
Alma’s last chemotherapy session ended on 13 February and she is relieved to have that done, but she will continue to take chemo pills for the next two to three years and have to endure a lumbar puncture every three months. “In two weeks I have to go for a biopsy to see if I am still in remission. I go for blood tests every Monday and Thursday, which makes me late for class, so I’m a bit behind, but it’s still good to be back at school.”
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Before her sickness, Alma ran through life like a Duracell bunny with an overloaded sports and extra mural activity schedule. She is slowly getting back to her old ways. “I’ve started drama and hockey again, which was a big part of my life before. I played my first match for the first team on Friday, 21 February, which we won. We had lost our previous two matches, so I like to think we won because of me,” she said with a laugh.
“I’ve also started dancing again. My energy levels are better than when I first got sick. I’m trying to get my normal life back. I would have preferred to not get sick and I’ve had two friends die of cancer, so I count myself lucky.”
With some money left over from fundraisers held for Alma, she said her parents will donate it to other young leukaemia sufferers who are in need and will continue to plan more fundraisers this year to add to the kitty. All fundraisers will be publicised in the SUN.
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