It’s been six years since the girl with a single eyelash made international headlines with her brave and moving story.
But now Bli Bli’s Hayley Brown is facing another set of challenges that her father says reaches beyond the constant network of love and support from her immediate family.
In 2016 doctors found a 5cm tumour growing inside the six-year-old’s nasal cavity and she was diagnosed with the rare cancer rhabdomyosarcoma.
This sparked the long and difficult journey of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for the little “princess warrior”.
But it was one heartbreaking photo that captured her plight for the world to see.
It showed the only hair left on Hayley after the aggressive treatment – one single eyelash.
The moving picture soon went viral.
While 13-year-old Hayley has just celebrated her fifth year in remission from cancer, she has recently experienced another string of setbacks.
Her father, Andrew Brown, said they suspected she had autism spectrum disorder but did not receive help or support and it was put down to her being “shy”.
“Then our attempts to get support for her ASD was interrupted by cancer hitting Hayley,” Mr Brown said.
“The priority moved to her survival instead of whether or not she has autism and/or will speak to people.
“During Hayley’s 18 months of treatment, her head oncologist never heard her speak once.
“The nurses got to hear her though. I guess shyness goes away when screaming in pain.”
A few years later Mr Brown said they also suspected Hayley to have selective mutism, which is when a child can’t speak in certain settings but can speak fine in others.
In 2016 when she was about to start radiation therapy, Mr Brown said doctors told them they could almost guarantee by the time Hayley was a teenager she would need hormone replacement treatment.
“Last year so many extra tests were suddenly being ordered and she’s back in hospital for a more than six-hour-long test, with hourly blood tests,” he said.
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“It was discovered that her thyroid isn’t working properly and that she is producing no growth hormone.
“The growth hormone is more than just whether or not she is short or tall. It is muscle and bone development as well as other internal organs.
“The potential, future health risks are too much.”
The Browns quickly began thyroid treatment for Hayley, with a tablet every morning. The growth hormone is a needle in her arm or leg six days out of seven.
But sadly, Mr Brown said Hayley has now officially been diagnosed with PTSD.
“Through our own research, it is now strongly recommended by her GP, psychologist, paediatrician and another expert that we should get an assistance dog for Hayley to help with her anxiety and her PTSD, and to a lesser degree but also importantly her ASD,” he said.
“The training that her pup will receive will support Hayley through her anxiety and PTSD that are controlling her life and she will have that pup thanks to so many people.”
The Browns recently set up a GoFundMe page to try and quicken the process of buying and training an assistant dog for Hayley.
He said the pups they were looking at were between $4000-$5500, plus the ongoing training.
“We are able to take care of this ourselves, eventually, but want to get Hayley the assistance she needs now,” he said.
“She no longer sleeps in her own room but on a mattress on our bedroom floor as she needs us close, I suppose just like the nights in the hospital,” he said.
“We also don’t want to sedate her again and want the dog to be certified to be allowed in the hospital with her to help with her anxiety.”
He said they were happy to repay the donated money back to people, they just needed to send him a message afterwards letting him know.
With $3700 raised of the $5000 goal, Mr Brown said he felt overwhelmed and emotional at the community’s love and support with their donations.
“I know so many have helped us so much already,” he said.
“I am asking for $5000 because with all the fees, we would lose some of your donation.
“We all have had so much asked of us lately and I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t for my little girl.”
While Hayley was excited about getting her dog, Mr Brown said overall she was still “a bit lost”.
“She doesn’t talk about it much and is usually locking herself away in her room,” he said.
“She’s about to start a new school. I’m sure she is excited and nervous about that.
“I would like to thank everybody for the love, support and money to help my little girl. No one deserves what she and many other kids have had to go through with cancer.”
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