Butterfly girl: Pandora Humphries has defied the odds and is going to school. Picture: CRAIG BORROW

SHE may be small, but Pandora Humphries is about to make a huge impression at school.

Of the thousands of pupils starting school none have come as far as Pandora to get there, and few will have as many proud supporters to thank for getting to the classroom.

The "butterfly girl" who captured hearts as the face of the Royal Children's Good Friday Appeal is rapidly growing up -- albeit with some specialist help -- and is all set to start prep at Carranballac College in Point Cook.

It is a long way from the first two years of her life when Pandora had to live in isolation at the hospital battling an undiagnosed disease, which still baffles doctors and almost killed her too many times for her mother Amber Hendry to count.

The condition, which Ms Hendry all too appropriately calls "Pandora's box disease", has also severely stunted her growth.

Picking out her first tiny school shoes and uniform for Monday has been one of her biggest joys, but getting a school bag was an issue because backpacks don't come small enough for Pandora, who's 1m tall.
Instead, she will proudly wheel a trolley bag, which her school printed its logo on especially for her.

"When she walks out on Monday morning in her school uniform she is going to be on top of cloud nine," Ms Hendry said. "She already has everyone at the school wrapped around her little finger. "I can't believe it.

I look back at the photos and think `my God, she was so sick and on death's door and in intensive care with a million and one blood transfusions and equipment'. Then all of a sudden she's off to school on Monday saying `bye, mum'. What am I going to do with myself?"

Pandora's unknown condition causes her red blood cells to attack each other, break down and not regenerate as they do in other people. She was saved by a bone marrow transplant in 2006, but needed oxygen constantly until last March in case she stopped breathing -- a milestone, that has allowed her to go to school without an aid.

Just 18 months ago Pandora could not walk or talk, but she has literally hit the ground running since. Each night before bed she has an injection of growth hormones, which helps her to grow 1cm a month, granting her mum's Christmas wish when she hit 1m in late December.

"People look at her and say she is so cute for three, and Pandora says `no, I'm five and I am going to prep'," Ms Hendry said. "She says the only reason I am getting big is because mum gives me a needle every night, and I have to tell her that is probably not the best thing to tell people when you first meet them.

"She has taken it and just run with it. Nothing stops her and she is keen to do everything. She started swimming in December and now she thinks she's Libby Trickett."

Although she may be small, Pandora has not suffered any developmental delays. But rather than learning to read or write, one of her first lessons will be learning to eat like the other children as she is gradually weaned off tube feeds.

"It is going to be a huge shock to her when she goes on Monday," Ms Hendry said. "But . . . she will not even blink an eyelid."

With the traumatic memories of having to resuscitate her dying daughter still far too real, Ms Hendry said starting school in good health was a huge milestone for her and as well as the Royal Children's medical team.
"I used to walk around the hospital saying `why didn't I just call her Kate -- then I wouldn't even be here'."