Carly Saunders and Tresne Middleton rose to fame in Australia’s reality television industry after making their television debut on the culinary competition show My Kitchen Rules. However, their eight-year IVF journey, which they documented on their Instagram page, is what made them well-liked celebs Down Under.

The couple welcomed a daughter, Poppy Grace, on June 2, 2021. But shortly after Poppy’s birth, doctors discovered she had infantile acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which the Mayo Clinic describes as “cancer of the blood and bone marrow—the spongy tissue inside bones where blood cells are made.”

Poppy lost her battle with cancer in February of this year, just four months shy of turning two.

The two are now openly discussing the early signs of this unusual sickness.

“We noticed that her belly was starting to expand. As a result, it was rather distended. Additionally, Middleton said that when she was eating, she would frequently throw up in large amounts.

But the two claimed that Poppy’s persistent thigh bruise was the real red sign.

Saunders states that “with leukemia, if they’re pale, if they have bruises, or if they’re bleeding excessively, those are usually signs that the disease is affecting their marrow and consequently their blood.”

The bruise on Poppy persisted for five weeks.

The statement made by Saunders was, “Looking back, we wonder how we missed noticing she was so pale, but we had no idea because it happened so gradually.”

When Poppy’s body was found to contain leukemia, she was just 11 weeks old. According to Saunders of 7news, she was our little miracle. Since 2012, we had been trying to get pregnant. We worried we might lose her that night. Every day was difficult.

Because getting Poppy required such a lengthy journey, we didn’t at first believe it.

Poppy had a bone marrow transplant prior to turning one because of her illness. However, Poppy’s condition began to deteriorate two days later, and doctors had to inform Poppy’s parents of the dreadful news.

Doctors advised spending as much time with her as you can, Middleton recalled.

According to Middleton, “Poppy really came into her own during that time, like we saw her personality, we got to see just what a little shining star she was.” They were given a further eight months as a consequence of pharmaceutical trials.

But due to an unreported “traumatic” health episode in February, Poppy went suddenly on February 16.

As Poppy’s parents observed, “It’s astounding how much blood cancer patients in general and children with cancer need.” The amount of blood donations given in Poppy’s honor has increased. There is a major blood shortage right now.

According to Middleton and Saunders, donations donated in Poppy’s memory have helped save 4000 lives.

We understand how important it was for Poppy and all of her tiny friends who still need blood.

In Poppy’s memory, the couple is continuing their campaign to encourage blood donations and educate parents about leukemia’s early warning signs.

They discussed Poppy’s symptoms on Facebook and Instagram, warning parents to watch out for indicators like fevers, enlarged lymph nodes, and joint or headache pain. “It was pale skin due to her low [hemoglobin] (red blood cells), large vomits (due to her enlarged spleen), and a persistent bruise that stayed on her leg for weeks (due to low platelets),” they wrote about Poppy.