About Eli
Eli Charlie Simpson was born on 28th September 2007, and was promptly named Melon by his dad Pete due to the size of his head (runs in the family apparently)!
Eli was diagnosed at 15 weeks with an incredibly rare form of leukaemia (Juvenile Myelmonocytic Leukemia) which affects 4 in a million kids worldwide. It’s in the same family as “Acute Myeloid Leukaemia” which means it is a bit trickier to get on top of.
Many tests were done, every Monday, taking the family away from their home in Kalimna (just near Lakes Entrance) in East Gippsland. On a good day, about 4 hours away from Melbourne. On a bad day with traffic, it could take anywhere up to 6 hours to get home.
Eli underwent two rounds of intensive chemo for 5 days each time. It was to get the white cell count down enough to remove his spleen, which the Royal Children’s Hospital did when he was 7 months old. Eli received his bone marrow transplant after an incredibly intensive ‘treatment’ plan which killed all his ‘marrow factory’. He was 8 months old.
Battling VRE (a super bug) and CMV (in hospital for 6 weeks straight) throughout, he died at the age of 13 and a half months.
