Marlow's Story
“Marlow loved looking for shells and treasures
on the beach.”
Marlow was asked to create something that expressed where she wished she could be other than spending time at the hospital. She very quickly started to sketch a picture of the beach. Marlow loved looking for shells and treasures on the beach.
I believe that she loved the feeling of experiencing the vast open space the beach and water offered. It was such an escape to discover and enjoy a place that seemed to have no boundaries; a true gift not always afforded to those dealing with chronic conditions that require constant care and monitoring.
Leaving us far too soon, Marlow was 9 years old and fought cancer with immense courage and determination for 6 1/2 years.
Marlow was one of the faces of a new branding campaign for Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. The campaign is called “Vs.” and it shows the community that children at the hospital are all superheroes, for the courage and bravery they show while undergoing treatments for rare and challenging diseases.
Marlow had been fighting a rare form of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, since she was two and half years old. It’s a cancer that affects soft tissues in muscle and it can impact the entire body. Only about 250 kids in North America are diagnosed with it each year.
Marlow, was a big fan of Batman. On one day in Toronto, Marlow and her family left Ronald McDonald House – a place where SickKids patients can stay during treatments – and began travelling via scooter to the hospital while wearing a bat girl shirt.
In her 6 1/2 years of battling cancer, Marlow had literally hundreds of “bravery beads” on several necklaces. Each time a SickKids patients undergoes a treatment, they’re given a bead to add to a necklace. The beads are so plentiful they create a rattle, which speaks volumes to the challenges Marlow’s endured in her short life.