One-month-old Vanessa fights neuroblastoma: 'We live day by day'

A one-month-old Estonian girl named Vanessa was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma by chance. Her mother, Helis Sepp, describes how the family lives day by day, as treatment is long and exhausting.

In Estonia, little Vanessa's mother Helis Sepp discovered that her daughter had been diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma by chance during the first year of her life — one of the most serious types of cancer found in childhood. The diagnosis came unexpectedly and brought with it a comprehensive and demanding treatment plan.

Neuroblastoma is a malignant tumour that develops mostly in the adrenal glands or sympathetic nerve tissue and occurs mainly in young children. Stage 4 means the disease has spread beyond the primary site of the tumour, making treatment a particularly complex and lengthy process.

According to mother Helis Sepp, the family has had to come to terms with a new daily reality where frequent hospital visits and intensive treatment courses have become part of family life. "We live day by day," Helis has said, emphasising that they have no choice but to take each day as it comes.

Treatment for neuroblastoma typically includes chemotherapy, surgery, and often stem cell transplantation and radiation therapy — a process that lasts months and requires great resilience from both the child and the family. The family hopes that intensive treatment will yield the desired outcome.