SIAN ANELA MARISA BRADWELL
SIAN’S STORY
Sian – a Welsh Gaelic name meaning “precious gift of God” — was born on October 3rd, 1985, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Montreal to Ken and Sharon Bradwell. She was a really bonnie baby who went happily to the arms of family and friends.
In early March of 1985, Sian’s mother found a lump on the left instep of Sian’s foot. It was the start of a living nightmare for the family, who had just returned from England after the funeral of Sian’s grandfather. Test followed test, with no conclusive results. Sian spent almost all of the Easter weekend in her mother’s arms, feeling too ill to enjoy the attention of the loving family with which she was surrounded. Doctors advised that since no other conclusions could be drawn, the determining test would be a biopsy. On May 1st, Sian’s parents were given the news that she had a malignant form of cancer called Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumour (PNT), which doctors thought started in her pancreas and had already spread to her spine, liver and legs.
Sian underwent a series of chemotherapy treatments and for a short while, the tumours shrank. When they began to grow again, doctors felt the best course of action would be for surgery, followed by radiation treatment, so on October 4th, Sian underwent a modified Whipple procedure, and then radiation treatment at the Montreal General Hospital.
The cancer had weakened Sian’s bones, however, and just as she was learning to pull herself upright in her cot, the femur (biggest bone in the body) of her left leg broke. She was never able to stand.
On Christmas Day, while kissing her cheek, Sian’s mother found lumps on her jaw.
She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors commenced treatment with experimental drugs, since the conventional ones were not working
But even these did not work, and in early March, doctors told Sian’s parents that she would not live long enough to try any other experimental treatment. On March 15th, 1986, Sian took her last breath.
