Novalie Morris, 5, was diagnosed with leukemia after initial symptoms were dismissed. Her family had to uproot their lives for treatment, facing a harrowing new blow just days into her intensive care.
Novalie Morris was five years old when her “happy and healthy” world was uprooted by cancer. The deadly disease would go on to dictate the Geelong family’s lives for years to come, as mum Kat soon found herself turned from caregiver to patient. Novalie was the type of child who seemed to avoid getting sick, until she and her brother came down with a cough in 2019. While her brother bounced back, Novalie struggled. “She was a bit up and down and not quite right ...
but there were no giant red flags, which you would definitely think would happen if your child had a serious illness,” Kat told 7NEWS.com.au. Kat took her daughter to the doctor, who diagnosed her with a UTI. However, antibiotics seemed to have little effect and Kat could not shake the nagging thought, “something isn’t right”. Trusting her gut, the mother-of-two took Novalie to hospital and pushed for the five-year-old to have her bloods checked. Doctors initially were dismissive, but once the results came back, “they quickly changed their tune”. Suddenly, Novalie was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, where doctors confirmed the worst — it was cancer. “Even though we thought there was something not quite right, we never would have thought leukaemia,” Kat said. “Then all of a sudden, she was admitted to the oncology ward.” Novalie was staring down a 2.5-year treatment plan that meant the family had to uproot their lives to Melbourne to be near the hospital — a “double blow” for an already devastated family. “That was like an unbelievable shock, what do you mean we can’t go home,” Kat said. “In an instant, everything just changed ... work, school, everything just stopped.” An ‘unbelievable’ new blow Just nine days into “intensive” treatment, Novalie’s condition rapidly deteriorated. “It quickly spiralled into septic shock, which is a really life-threatening condition, and her body was shutting down,” Kat said
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