FOR the first time in almost five months, Shannon McKnight returned home.
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The 17-year-old year 12 student at Wagga High School has been receiving treatment at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney since she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in April.
Her family, who have uprooted their lives and been hit with constant medical and travel costs, brought her home for a short sojourn over the weekend, before she starts the next round of intense chemotherapy in Sydney.
Shannon was a regular teenager with a kidney infection, but had pain so severe on April 9 that she was rushed to Wagga Base Hospital by ambulance.
Four hours later, blood tests revealed she had leukaemia.
Shannon was transferred to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney the next night by Angel Flight.
It has since been a tumultuous ride for the family.
They were first told Shannon would be there for 80 days, then for two years and then there was the prospect of not returning at all until she was given the all clear.
Shannon started chemotherapy almost immediately and will next Monday start another round of intense chemotherapy for six days straight.
While she is due to have four weeks off after that, she still has daily blood tests and has learnt to inject herself nightly.
But Shannon remains optimistic.
"It's all going really well," she said.
Shannon has missed driving the most, having only been on her P plates since December.
A carload of friends and a teacher visited Shannon in hospital about six weeks ago.
"It's just a long process," her mother Jodie Wilesmith said of the treatment trial.
"If something new comes up, we'd just be first to get it.
"That's the beauty of being on a trial."
Shannon, a straight A student, had just completed her year 12 half-yearly exams and scored well above the grade average before she was diagnosed.
Hospitalisation has meant Shannon can't complete her HSC, but the Board of Studies announced this week it would average her marks out.
Shannon said she planned on applying to uni but would defer next year.