This one is a story within itself. As I begin to write this, I can tell you I don’t know where this blog post is going to end up. I have started this on the 12th of February 2024, Nahla was formally diagnosed in September 2019 and we had suspicions of something advance from September 2016.

No, I did not expect at 26 years old to be confronted with something as advanced as Stage Four CLL. Little did I even know what it would lead into over the next twelve months and spit me out in this space, almost five years later, with an eleven year old sass pot Border Collie who not only survived passed a medium survival rate of 120 days, but taught me how to handle myself in my own health struggle of Chronic Kidney Failure and how to still have everything you ever wanted, even in the face of such hardship.

So here we go.

In September 2019, Nahla was run over by a bicycle by my partner at the time, spoilers.. we did not survive the next two years. It was not dramatic, at all. A small cut, a little bit of bruising. We ran to the vet for a good clean as she had dirt all through the wound, seven days of antibiotics, just in case and away we went. The next seven days went by without a hitch. I was working as a Real Estate Agent in our busiest time of year, Spring Auction Event meant ten to twelve hours a day, six to seven days a week. I was busy.

The morning after the antibiotics finished, Nahla didn’t get up to greet us. It was a normal morning occurrence, if you’ve ever owned a Border Collie, you know that this is an immediate vet trip. So I dropped her in on my way to work and left her there to be assessed and treated accordingly.

Perhaps two hours into my day, I got a call from the Vet.

Dr Melanie Irvine is a damn incredible woman. The way she gathers facts and processes information is nothing short of heroic. Watching the mind of such an incredible and passionate Veterinarian over the last almost five years has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

However, what she had to say was not.

I was standing out the front of the office, we live in Queensland and it was a beautiful Spring morning, I was watching the river run out to the ocean and what she said just rolled me entirely. “I think she has Leukemia.” Genuinely my response what “fucking what?”

Initially, her blood count was extraordinary. In excess of one hundred and sixty seven thousand and they were 90% lymphocytes. And get this, the ONLY reason we picked up on the Leukemia as fast as we did and had a shot at fighting it, was this woman had seen this, once, in her entire career. About five years beforehand and she recognised the cell mutation when she looked at it under the microscope.

And away we went.

The first response was Accute Leukemia, this presents in toddlers and dogs. Sudden and rapid mutation of the white blood cells. This is all I know of Accute Leukemia because as you can work out, she did not have ALL.

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia has five stages. In Australia within the Veterinary community, my experience is Nahlas diagnosis was Stage Five. In humans, we run on stage 0-4 which is five stages, however, or the purpose of this, I will use the 0-4 method.

I will be continuing this breakdown of Nahlas first Chemotherapy adventure. It took us 18 months to stabilise her and what happened in that time.. We cannot make that up. Inclusive of COVID-19, Veterinarians fighting to be classified as a essential service, my own Kidney failure and removal, a renovation of the single most run down house you have seen in your life, a separation and sale of said home for more than double what we spent and finally, building a successful Real Estate Career and becoming the first Female Auctioneer in South East Queensland.

So a little about me.

I get bored. I cannot fathom breaking down this entire adventure into one blog post, so I will be working on it over the next few months to get this story together. I am excited to share this part of my life that I have kept private and I appreciate you taking time out of your day to read my story.

Until the next time I manage to get words onto the computer screen.

Sarah x