Angels relay for Isabella

Her daughter Isabella McInerney’s weight loss was most evident during bath time when her protruding bones were on display.

Isabella, now 4, dropped to 14.8 kilograms last year while receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatment for Rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer that affects the muscles.

Isabella was sitting on her mother’s knee when she threw her head back and her father, Geoff McInerney, noticed a lump on her neck.

The lump was initially diagnosed as a thyroid cyst but as her parents watched it grow before their eyes, they knew it was something else.

Isabella was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma in April last year.

She immediately started six months of chemotherapy before surgery to remove the lump then four weeks of radiotherapy and six more months of chemotherapy.

“I told her every step of the way what we were doing,” Mrs McInerney said.

“It was very difficult to watch our child go through the tough treatment and it was a struggle to see how nasty the side effects could be and yet be powerless to take her pain away.”

Isabella received her last chemotherapy treatment in July and will have tests and scans in mid October to monitor her condition.

Mrs McInerney is hoping Isabella’s central line will be removed by December so her daughter can go swimming at Christmas.

She was overwhelmed by the support she, her husband and son, Cooper, received while Isabella received treatment.

Mrs McInerney’s niece has registered a team, Isabella Angels, in this year’s Wagga Relay for Life.

“We just want to give back because there are so many other children out there with cancer,” she said.

The Wagga Relay for Life will be held at Parramore Park from 9am on October 10 to 9am on October 11.

For more information, visit the Wagga event page on the Relay for Life website.