A Bristol schoolgirl has been cruelly bullied at school due after losing her hair due to her leukaemia treatment. Mum Sarah Ferns, 49, has shared the heart-wrenching story of her 14-year-old daughter Meadow, who has lost all her hair and faced such severe bullying at school that she no longer attends full-time.
The bullying cruelty escalated to the point where they wished death upon her and said she deserved her illness after learning of her diagnosis. Sarah has found that wigs are the only thing that boosts Meadow’s confidence as she battles cancer, which has left the teenager feeling utterly distraught.
Meadow’s chemotherapy caused her to lose all of her hair, including her eyebrows and she has spent weeks at Bristol’s Royal Children’s Hospital after numerous complications due to the severity of her illness. She has been battling the disease now for over 12 months.
Speaking about her daughter’s ordeal, Sarah said: “Meadow has been through the ringer and she still comes out with her little sense of humour on some days and she is just a joy. She has asked me to let her die, stop the treatment and stop the doctors hurting her. Her mood has been so low she didn’t want to carry on.”
Meadow, from Frenchay, received her leukaemia diagnosis on November, 28 2023. After trying numerous wigs, she finally found one that significantly improved her confidence.
“But she is so brave and these Intralace wigs bring her smile back. As long as there is money in the account she can have hair but when it runs out she can’t.”
However, these particular wigs come with a hefty price tag of £2,000, require adjustments every six weeks at £165 an hour for fitting, and need to be replaced throughout her treatment. Sarah has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of Intralace wigs for Meadow.
Meadow was just 13-years-old when she was diagnosed with leukaemia, following a persistent chest infection. Her mother, Sarah, recalled: “The doctor said to ride out the chest infection, but Meadow came downstairs one night and said ‘Mum stop cooking I can’t stand that smell it is making me nauseous’. But I wasn’t cooking anything.
“I thought that is no chest infection and so the next day she had blood tests at midday – then I got a call at six o’clock that evening saying I had to bring her into hospital.” The diagnosis came after 24 hours in the hospital.
Treatment for Meadow began promptly on December 1, but complications arose when doctors found a mass on her lungs, causing breathing difficulties, and her heart and kidneys began to fail. An operation also resulted in a torn spine, leading to spinal fluid leaking into her body, bringing a risk of paralysis.
Meadow and Sarah spent 52 days in Bristol’s Royal Children’s Hospital. When Meadow started chemotherapy, she began losing her hair in clumps. By April, she had lost all her hair, including her eyelashes, eyebrows, and body hair.
Tragically, this led to merciless bullying from girls at her school, causing Meadow to ‘shut down completely’. Sarah said: “When she was diagnosed, the school had an assembly as there so many rumours – a couple of girls said ‘she deserves it and hope she dies’.
“One of them is still in Meadow’s classes – how awful is that, that she is still sat in a room with someone who has said such things to my little girl.
“How do you explain to your daughter there are people out there like that? There were occasions we would drive to the local shop and Meadow wouldn’t get out the car as people were staring.”
“She refused to go out the car at school if she saw anyone she might know or in case anyone saw her – she lost her confidence.”
After months of trying to find wigs that felt comfortable and did not fall off – the pair found Intralace. Although it has not completely stopped the bullying, the wigs have given Meadow newfound confidence.
She now goes into school two to three times a week, depending on her levels of fatigue, but Sarah says the difference is that her daughter is ‘now willing’ to socialise. Sarah said: “She’s still sick and has very little mobility because she was almost paralysed, so lost a lot of use of her hips and legs. But as expected she is up and down.
“Now we’ve got her going to school part time which is good but it is only because we got the wig. She is the most beautiful girl and I am so proud of her. We are so grateful for people’s support from the bottom of our hearts.”
You can donate to help Meadow here.