Bone Marrow Aspirates and Trephine (BMAT), Lumbar Puncture (LP), MRI head/thorax/abdomen, under General Anaesthetics (GA).

dellanienash9
Dec 10, 2025
2 min read

🎄 Tuesday 9th December — Christmas Songs & Big Procedures 🎄

Today started with soft Christmas songs playing in the background — a small reminder that the festive season still exists outside these hospital walls. Maya enjoyed a gentle massage, reflexology and plenty of moisturiser to keep her little body comfortable. OT came to help, but the sling we needed hadn’t been washed yet, so we focused on stretching exercises and a little bit of bubble play instead. Simple moments that still feel precious.

Her hospital school teacher arrived at 1:30pm, but the timing couldn’t have been trickier — Maya was due to go for general anaesthetics for a long list of procedures: MRI of her head, thorax and abdomen, a lumbar puncture, and bone marrow biopsies (BMAT).

Everything today seemed to be a waiting game…

1pm became 2pm, which became 2:30pm… and then 2:40pm.

When it was finally time to go down to the Otter MRI Suite, Maya became very upset. Watching her tears fall was heartbreaking, yet — in a strange way — reassuring. Her emotions are returning. Her brain is slowly reconnecting. She is showing us more of our Maya again.

She went under at around 3pm. They told us a couple of hours.

But 6:30pm arrived… and still no Maya.

Daddy paced anxiously even when he was at home. I tried to stay calm — knowing she was surrounded by experts from anaesthetics, radiology, oncology and surgical teams. Still, time moves differently when your child is behind those double doors.

Finally… just after 7pm… she was wheeled back to Lion Ward. Disoriented and frightened, but here. My voice soothed her, and Christmas songs played softly on Spotify while I massaged her hands. Nappy change done, and she relaxed for the rest of the night — brave, exhausted, still fighting.

We are terrified of what these results may bring… but tonight we are simply grateful that she is back with us, safe.

Thank you — all of you — for willing healing into existence for our girl. Your emotional and financial support keeps us going more than you’ll ever know. Maya is a true childhood cancer warrior, and she continues this fight with an army standing behind her story.

To those that have asked:

PayPal to dellanie_nash@yahoo.co.uk (as a gift)

Santander

D C Nash

Sort code 09-01-36

Account 4957 9984

Reference: Maya’s Journey