Saving Charlotte: A young girl and her family’s journey through a rare cancer
By Lafe Low, Red Cross writer A cancer diagnosis is certainly unwelcome and unexpected news for anyone. And no parent is ever prepared to hear their child has been diagnosed with cancer—especially when that child is only two years old. That is just what Anna Harris-Spaulding and Josh Spaulding faced when they learned their daughter Charlotte was sick. “In October of 2024, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer,” says Charlotte’s mom Anna Harris-Spaulding. “She had a fairly large tumor removed, then had four rounds of chemo.” She explained how each round of chemotherapy consisted of a week of inpatient treatment at Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD). Then each treatment was followed by two weeks at home recovering. Charlotte’s mom and dad recognized the first clues that something wasn’t right prior to her diagnosis. “She started having some hormonal issues, and that was kind of weird,” Anna says. “What came about was early puberty symptoms and that was jarring. She was being tr...
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