KEY POINTS:
It's been a good Easter for Wanganui mayor Michael Laws as his sick daughter Lucy was allowed home for the long weekend.
The three-year-old has been in Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland since February 10, fighting off a rare and dangerous combination of leukaemia, pneumonia and aspergillus fungal infection.
When she was admitted to Starship, she was given just a 10 per cent chance of survival.
Just as she was showing signs of improvement, she was readmitted to hospital on March 14 with an infection. She also had another night in Wanganui Hospital on Thursday when she developed a fever on her way home.
However, Lucy was home by Friday and enjoyed the simple pleasures of an ice-cream in the park yesterday.
Mr Laws told the Wanganui Chronicle Lucy was still suffering from temperature spikes, and chemotherapy treatment has had a serious effect on her appetite.
"But her general health has perked up since she returned home and re-entered the family routine."
Laws, his partner Leonie Brookhammer and their younger daughter Zoe have made the most of the family's time together as Lucy must return to Starship on Wednesday for a further round of chemotherapy treatment.
"I had this expectation that when Lucy came home everything would be normal again. But then you realise there is no normal any more," said Ms Brookhammer, who is nearly three months' pregnant with the couple's third child.
- NZPA
