Girl, 12, who has fought leukaemia four times and spent four months of 2024 isolated in hospital ready for ‘fresh start’

A schoolgirl who spent a third of 2024 isolated in hospital while undergoing cancer treatment has said she is hoping for a “fresh start”.

Amelie Coelho Flatt, 12, from Stotfold in Bedfordshire, underwent a stem cell transplant last year after being diagnosed with leukaemia for a fourth time.

Amelie, who was first diagnosed when she was three, relapsed when she was eight and again at the age of 11.

She underwent a bone marrow transplant in April 2024 and spent around four months in hospital in isolation.

After a gruelling stay in hospital, the secondary school pupil was able to attend Taylor Swift’s Eras tour at Wembley Stadium in August.

Cancer free and having regular check-ups, she is looking to the future and hopes for a “fresh start”, including returning to school, posting about her health experience on TikTok and even seeing giraffes in Africa.

“I’m excited to go back to school to see my friends. At home I have my tutor, I’m learning, but I don’t have any of the fun bits like art or my friends,” Amelie told PA Real Life.

“I’m looking forward to a fresh start in the new year with my mum and my brother. My brother is so brave, so is all of my family.

“I’m also hoping to post vlogs on TikTok about my experience as I’ve never seen anyone on social media that is in my position that talks about it.”

In July 2015, when Amelie was just three, she became “very sick, very quickly” according to her mother Sofia Coelho Flatt, 41, who works in HR and is also mum to nine-year-old Aiden.

While doctors thought she might have a sickness bug or a urine infection, a nightmare diagnosis was just around the corner.

“She was transferred to intensive care at Great Ormond Street. She was there on Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday was when she was diagnosed with leukaemia,” said Sofia.

Aiden was just four months old at the time, while Amelie had only recently turned three.

“It all feels like a blur now,” she said.

“No one wants to hear your child has cancer, but equally she was literally fading away in front of us, so there was some relief that actually when they finally diagnosed her, they were going to fix her.”

Amelie was treated with chemotherapy from July 2015 to December 2017 and came off treatment for three years before she relapsed in February 2021.

“It (the relapse) came as a real shock to us all, and was really difficult for Amelie to take,” said Sofia.

“She obviously understood so much more than she did when she was just three.”

Amelie again had chemotherapy, but this time was able to also be treated using immunotherapy, and once again beat the cancer, only for it to return, just four months after finishing treatment, in August 2023.

“It feels like an out of body experience,” said Sofia.

“You’re not even out of it really before she then relapsed again. It’s a very different conversation when they’re older and understand everything and what they’re going through.”

After being diagnosed with leukaemia for a third time, Amelie was treated with Car T-cell therapy – after this failed, a bone marrow transplant, which she had in April 2024, was her last option.

What followed were four difficult months in which Amelie was isolated in hospital.

“It’s been a really long journey,” said Sofia.

“For those four months she was isolated away from everybody apart from me and her dad – about four or five weeks in, we had to speak to the consultants about allowing her brother to come and see her because mentally they were both not coping.

“Eventually we got there and got Aiden back with her, and that was really lovely.”

Just days after being released from hospital in August 2024, Amelie was able to start living her life to the fullest with a special trip to see Taylor Swift.

“I went with my best friend, Ella, and it was really amazing, because I had such a tough few years,” Amelie said.

“I wasn’t expecting to be able to do anything that amazing.

“We went there and we had normal seats, but obviously from being in hospital a lot of the time it was quiet, so I was a little bit overwhelmed. But Wembley was really nice and gave us a private box.

“I probably wouldn’t have been able to stay at the concert without that, so I’m very thankful.”

Sofia said: “It was a risk taking her as we had only been out of hospital 12 days.

“As her mother, I was absolutely petrified to take her. You’ve got to remember, she’d been in hospital, isolated for 127 days. So then to take her to be amongst that many people.

“You can’t go through what she’s been through her whole life and not live, we have to start living.

“She’s got to start having some positive things in her life, and she needs to to live and be happy and experience happiness and joy. It was worth the risk.”

Among Amelie’s dreams are to release baby turtles into the wild, as well as to see one of her favourite animals, the giraffe, in Kenya.

“It would mean the world to me, I love animals so much,” said Amelie.

“I haven’t been on holiday in a long time because of Covid and my health and all sorts. I think my other dream would be – I love fashion – so to go to Paris and look at all the fashion shops and boutiques.”

Amelie said that her health journey has taught her to “make the most of stuff and just have fun” while she added “I knew my mum was strong but I didn’t know how strong she really could be.”

For Sofia, getting people to sign up to the stem cell register is now a top priority.

“There’s a 34-year-old German man who selflessly gave his cells to save Amelie’s life,” she said.

“To anybody reading, please, if you can, first of all donate blood. Amelie has had hundreds of transfusions, and those transfusions have saved her life.

“And sign up to the (stem cell) register – it’s not as scary as some people think. It’s given her life.”

According to the blood cancer charity DKMS, more than 2,000 people in the UK are told each year they need a stem cell transplant.

To learn more about becoming a stem cell donor you can visit dkms.org.uk.