A young Nhill girl who has endured repeated rounds of cancer treatment, major surgery and life-threatening complications is now marking a year in remission, with her family using her story to highlight the importance of the Good Friday Appeal and the care provided by Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.
Chloe Stephens told the gathering that her daughter Ava was diagnosed with cancer in May 2023, shortly after her third birthday. Tests first carried out locally revealed a large mass on Ava’s left kidney, stretching from her ribs to her pelvis. After being flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital, further scans and a biopsy confirmed she had Wilms tumour, also known as nephroblastoma, a cancer of the kidney. Ava underwent four rounds of chemotherapy before major surgery to remove her left kidney.
During the operation, 22 enlarged lymph nodes were also removed, along with part of her diaphragm where the tumour had attached. A day later, she required emergency surgery after one of her lungs collapsed.
After recovering, Ava endured another 22 rounds of chemotherapy, along with multiple hospital admissions for infections, fevers, blood transfusions, platelet transfusions and treatment side effects. In January 2024, the family received the news they had been hoping for – Ava was in remission. But just six months later, during a routine CT scan, doctors discovered the cancer had returned.
This time a large tumour was found in her chest, attached to her right lung and close to her oesophagus, heart margins and aorta.
The relapse meant Ava faced even more aggressive treatment. Because of the likely long-term impact on her fertility, surgery was needed to preserve tissue before treatment began. She then underwent four phases of intensive chemotherapy, further major surgery including a lung lobectomy and thoracotomy, and more than a month in hospital for high-dose chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant using her own harvested stem cells. During that stay, Ava became critically ill, contracting severe respiratory and gastrointestinal infections as well as painful mucositis throughout her digestive tract. She required powerful pain relief, antibiotics and tube feeding, and at one stage doctors expected she might need breathing support in intensive care following a lung lavage procedure. Instead, she defied expectations and began to recover.
After spending Christmas in hospital and later undergoing four weeks of radiation treatment at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Ava was once again declared in remission. In August 2025, she faced another major health scare when she was flown back to the Royal Children’s with RSV, suspected sepsis and concerns about a possible brain infection. Further testing ruled out infection in her brain, but she was found to have severe pneumonia, dangerously high muscle breakdown levels and significant dehydration. Despite the seriousness of her condition, Ava recovered and was discharged a few days later.
Now six years old, Ava has reached a milestone her family once feared might not come – one full year in remission. Ms Stephens said that would not have been possible without the Good Friday Appeal and the work of the Royal Children’s Hospital. She also thanked everyone who attended the event, along with the Nhill Fire Brigade and Lions Club for organising the day.
This article appeared in Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 8 April 2026.
