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This year, she’s discovered a love for athletics. She recently competed at the state cross-country championships, recording a personal best along the way and a podium finish. Watching her race, it’s hard to imagine a time when doctors around the world were unsure if she would survive.
The youngest of four children, Blakely was born in late 2016. As her parents, Danny and Carlie, were enjoying their first moments with their little girl, they noticed a lump on their daughter. Just after being born, she was taken away to be assessed.
Immediately, they were plunged into a world of uncertainty as doctors tried to find out what the lump meant for their little girl.
"Right after she was born, we were told it wasn’t cancer. Then we were told it was cancer, but they couldn’t tell us what type,” Danny recalls.
The emotions that you go through as parents are unimaginable. That day when they said your daughter has cancer – it’ll stick with me forever.
Blakely’s tumour was unlike anything doctors had seen before, with doctors and specialists from Australia, Canada and the US working together to identify it. It would take three long months before the Simpson family would finally get an answer about what Blakely’s cancer was. In early 2017, Blakely was diagnosed with an exceptionally rare Ewing-like sarcoma – a tumour so uncommon there was little evidence to guide doctors on how best to treat it.
Over the course of a year, everyday routines were replaced by surgeries, chemotherapy and long stretches of uncertainty.
After 18 months of gruelling treatment, she would eventually ring the bell and celebrate being cancer-free – a celebration which has continued for the last eight years.
Today, Blakely is in Year 3, thriving at school and bringing joy to everyone around her. With the support of her coach, Courtney Collinge, Blakely has embraced athletics and all the joy it brings her.
To see her running around out there – it doesn't matter about the ribbons. The smile on her face makes it all worthwhile.
While the Simpsons celebrate what Blakely has overcome, they know the journey didn’t end after treatment. Like many childhood cancer survivors, Blakely faces long-term effects of treatment and the uncertainty of what the future will hold.
Blakely currently lives with cerebral palsy and epilepsy – health issues which continue to impact her attendance and involvement at school – but these challenges are just one part of who she is. She communicates confidently using sign language, loves athletics and touch football, and continues to surprise those around her.
"She's still got challenges. She'll never talk, she has some emotional challenges but seeing the way that she's recovered and growing from it is amazing,” Danny says.
Blakely is thriving today, but her lifelong health challenges are a reminder that childhood cancer treatment can have lasting effects. Donate to fund research that is paving the way for kinder treatments so that future children can enjoy healthier lives beyond cancer.
It's a constant reminder of what we went through and that you never know what the future holds. That's the cruel reality. The cancer is gone, but there are different side effects on her long term, some of those we don't know yet.
Watching Blakely run barefoot around her school athletics track in the rain, laughing and simply enjoying being a child, is a reminder of why childhood cancer research matters.
"The Kids' Cancer Project made our lives better, so the least we can do is try to help families like ours. Until you research these cancers, discover how they work and find better treatment methods, nothing is going to change."
"It might take five or ten years before you see the fruits of your donation," he added.
"But if we don't start now, nothing's going to change."
