In the span of just two weeks, the lives of Lara, Stacey and Matt Yaroslavceff were changed forever.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At just four years old, Lara has been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which occurs when bone marrow cell develops errors in its DNA. It is also the most common childhood cancer. Mum Stacey said it was hard to put into words how they felt.
"It's one of those things that you see happen to other people and you don't think will happen to you," she said.
"We've had to uproot our lives to a different town and leave our other two kids behind and you can't explain it. It's heart-breaking and you feel every single emotion at once."
They arrived at Sydney's Westmead Hospital on Tuesday last week where both Stacey and father Matt were allowed in the hospital at the same time initially.
That all changed the next day.
"They said it could only be one of us, so one parent was expected to do all day and all night which is exhausting having to be on shift for that long and stuck in that hospital room for so long with nobody to talk to," Mrs Yaroslavceff added.
"We thought this wasn't good enough and that we're entitled to see our child and they took that away from us."
They fought and eventually received an exemption allowing both parents in the hospital to care for their daughter at once.
Treatment for a cure takes about two years, so Lara will have six months of intensive chemotherapy in Sydney and then do 18 months of maintenance chemo once they're back in Orange.
"We're looking at a pretty long stay," Mrs Yaroslavceff said.
"With the lockdown and COVID and all that we don't know when we'll be able to go back and get our other kids from Orange."
This burden has been eased somewhat by a GoFundMe page set up by a family friend which has raised more than $36,000.
"We feel surrounded even though we're totally isolated, the support we've been getting in phenomenal," Mrs Yaroslavceff said.
"It's a massive relief because when your child has cancer you feel like you have no control over your finances, your health, nothing.
"So to have that burden eased a little bit helps and means that Matt doesn't have to worry about work and can be here with me and Lara."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.centralwesterndaily.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Catch up on our news headlines at Google News