She was given a 50/50 chance of surviving.

Last week, she started school.

In an overwhelming milestone for her family, Chloe began Prep at her Queensland school on Monday – and not without quite a few tears all ’round.

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Mum Shelley (nee Clarke, an ex-Tamworth girl) said it was just her, Chloe and dad Shane for the momentous day that once seemed so distant.

“We were OK, then the teacher was like, ‘OK, parents, it’s time for you to go now’, then Chloe came running over and buried her head in me,” Mrs Chappel said.

“I cried, she cried, I cried some more, she cried some more, Shane laughed at us; she stopped crying and I just kept crying,” she laughed.

The Chappels have been through a “long and challenging time” after learning of Chloe’s relapse in early December 2016.

With Chloe hospital-bound almost every single day since, there have been long days trying to keep her entertained; constant stress; fresh hopes after positive test results and fresh fears after questionable results.

There have been the money worries caused by Mrs Chappel having to quit work to care for Chloe.

There have been painful procedures and side-effects associated with chemotheraphy, radiation, blood tests, bone marrow aspirations and transplants.

There has been the pain of seeing other children being treated alongside Chloe die from their disease.

Then there has been the relief of remission, but knowing that Chloe’s body is still in the “balancing act” of accepting her bone marrow transplant.

“At the moment she’s still on fortnightly hospital visits and monthly bone marrow aspirations,” Mrs Chappel said.

“It can take up to five years to get an all-clear.

“It’s never really over … it’s a very fine line you have to tread.”

She said another concern for Chloe’s health was that she was having to go through all her childhood vaccinations, some for the first time.

“If someone at the school breaks out with chicken pox, we’d have to get her out of school straight away,” Mrs Chappel said.

“We are potentially putting her at risk, but we also just want to allow her to be normal.

“You want your five-year-old to be able to go to school and play and be with friends and run around.”

Mrs Chappel said she and her husband had done their best to stay positive; to encourage other families in the oncology ward, and to help Chloe approach her treatment as a good thing.

“To see her going to school … has bought up so many emotions of gratitude,” she said.

“Thank you to her bone marrow donor who gave her a second chance at life and also gave her the opportunity today to be ‘normal’.

“That gift of life is just something so precious, and Shane and I will never be thankful enough.”