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A girl with cancer was hospitalized for months. Now healthy and in college, she can see her old hospital room from her dorm.

Maggie Dorey’s dorm at the University of West England in Bristol overlooks the hospital room where she spent six months with leukemia as a toddler. (Courtesy of Martin Dorey)
5 min

When Martin Dorey dropped his 18-year-old daughter off at college, he knew it would be emotional. But he had no idea he would weep with joy.

As he opened the door to Maggie’s dorm room at the University of West England in Bristol on Sept. 23, he quickly realized she had a perfect view of her former room at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children — which is where, as a toddler, she spent six months fighting for her life.

Out his daughter’s dorm room window was the all-too-familiar hospital building.

“It felt like we had come full circle,” said Dorey, 54, who lives in Cornwall, about 160 miles from Bristol. “It was a significant moment in Maggie’s life.”

With painful clarity, he remembers receiving his daughter’s troubling diagnosis just after her first birthday. She had acute myeloblastic leukemia, a cancer found in the bone marrow and blood. Her jaw started swelling suddenly, and after weeks of rigorous medical examinations and bloodwork, she was whisked away to the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, where her parents learned she would need to endure several months of chemotherapy and intensive treatment.

“It was just awful,” Dorey recalled. “I just remember feeling numb.”

When you’re a parent whose child is seriously ill, he said, “you can’t really believe that it’s happening, and absolutely everything changes.”

At times “she was in a really, really bad way,” he said.

But she was a fighter, determined to get through the pain even at her young age.

“Maggie never really let it get a hold of her,” he said.

She became a park ranger at 85 to tell her story of segregation. Now 100, she’s the oldest active ranger.

What helped most, Dorey said, is that he and Maggie’s mother had full faith in the hospital staff and felt confident that their daughter was in the best hands.

Throughout her hospital stay, “everyone was absolutely phenomenal,” he said.

One evening, in particular, reinforced that belief. Maggie had been given a new chemo drug, to which she instantly developed an anaphylactic reaction, meaning her airways began to quickly close. Two nurses — one named Charlotte and the other Charlie, who were both in their 20s — immediately sprang into action.

“They acted really quickly and got adrenaline into her and, basically, saved her life,” Dorey said, adding that she’s now healthy and in remission.

At the time, Maggie’s mother was pregnant with their second child. After that evening, she and Dorey decided they would name their unborn daughter “Charlotte.”

They had originally planned to name her Lily, but “after that incident, that was it. We wanted to honor them and thank them,” Dorey said.

It wasn’t until 17 years later, though, that the two nurses were made aware that a little girl had been named after them. Charlotte Higby — one of the nurses on duty that night — spotted a tweet Dorey shared.

“Dropped Maggie at uni in Bristol today. From her new room you can see the room at Bristol Children’s Hospital where, 17 years earlier, she spent 6 months fighting for life against leukemia. Tears of joy. Thank you NHS,” he wrote.

The heartwarming post went viral after Higby — who declined an interview request from The Washington Post — commented: “Wow — that gives me goosebumps! As a nurse who looked after Maggie all those years ago, I can’t tell you how much this post means. Have an amazing time Maggie.”

Dorey promptly responded, saying: “can I assume that you are one of the Charlotte / Charlie team who stepped in after an anaphylactic reaction to chemo … and so gave my other daughter Charlie her name?”

Higby — who told The Post that she temporarily deactivated her Twitter account amid all the attention it’s getting — confirmed to Dorey that she is, indeed, one of the nurses he was referring to.

“I have never forgotten that night,” she wrote, explaining that whenever the topic of anaphylaxis comes up during annual training sessions, “I think of Maggie.”

Plus, Higby added, “I had no idea that is how Charlie got her name" and called the choice "lovely.”

The poignant exchange continued, and Dorey shared a photo of his two daughters together, to which Higby responded: “What gorgeous girls!”

“Nursing in that field often leaves you not quite sure how things turned out, so to see Maggie heading off to Uni is incredibly special,” she commented, adding that it is a team effort to care for a child with cancer. “Beyond the nurses and doctors are the often unseen staff including cleaners, porters, pathology staff, pharmacists, physios, play therapists, and many more.”

Dorsey also got in touch with the other nurse named Charlie who was there that night. Reconnecting with both health-care workers, he said, “was incredible.”

“The reaction to the tweet has been quite extraordinary,” he said.

The Twitter thread has been flooded with comments from people expressing similar gratitude toward medical staff who saved a loved one’s life.

“My son Henry had open heart surgery twice at Bristol Children’s Hospital. Forever indebted to the staff there. Life is so precious,” one parent wrote.

“My brother had leukaemia at 4 yrs old and a bone marrow transplant when he was 7,” another person commented. “He’s 42 now — and I am forever grateful that he’s here!”

Jonathan Tavernari, a Brazilian basketball player, shared a photo and commented: “My own boy spent time in a NICU fighting for his life when he was born. This is us at his first ever football game last month.”

The endless stream of comments also includes some from bereaved parents.

“As a mother of a child that did not make it, 20 years ago, that makes me so happy for you,” one mother wrote.

Dorey knows his daughter’s story could have ended much differently.

“We were lucky,” he said.

That’s why he’s using the sudden publicity to raise money for several organizations that support children with life-threatening illnesses.

“It’s an opportunity and we shouldn’t miss it, because there are kids who are still being diagnosed and parents who are going through awful things,” Dorey said.

Above all, he hopes the Twitter thread will encourage others to appreciate their working bodies and good health and the professionals who help keep them that way.

The greatest lesson his daughter’s illness taught him is to “never take anything for granted,” he said. “Be grateful for everything you have.”

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