Friday 4th February is World Cancer Day. Ironically, in 2022, this was the day our world changed literally overnight as we found out that our youngest child had developed childhood cancer. More specifically, our little boy was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).
He started 2022 with Covid and just didn’t seem to get better. We now know that as he recovered from the virus, he was starting to display the classic symptoms of blood cancer.
His symptoms were extreme fatigue (one day he fell asleep in the garden at preschool in January), unexplained bruising, night sweats, constant infections and fevers, bone and joint pain and shortness of breath. Throughout January 2022 I called NHS111 twice, visited our GP twice, took him to our local urgent care centre once and visited A&E. The A&E visit was the final contact we had with the NHS prior to diagnosis.
The posts in this category are all about how we as a family are dealing with the news, the charities that have helped us, things we have learnt along the way and advice for parents who sadly find themselves following in our footsteps and people encountering childhood cancer such as friends and relatives.
Writing about it has been hugely beneficial to my mental health as it has given me a non-judgemental outlet for my feelings as I have come to terms with my son’s diagnosis. Needless to say, a childhood cancer diagnosis is a huge rollercoaster of emotions for the whole family, there’s so much to come to terms with.
We all know that starting school can be a daunting prospect both for the child and for the parents, add to that a cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatment and it gets even more daunting. There are so many more things to consider. My son started Reception when he reached long-term maintenance in treatment for ALL […]
Starting or returning to school during cancer treatment Read More »
Calum’s Cabin is a charity that provides holiday retreats for children facing cancer. The charity is named after Calum Speirs who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour when he was just 11 years old. During his treatment, he was aware of how lucky he was to live in a beautiful part of the world
Calum’s Cabin Children’s Cancer Charity Read More »
Recently, the Dinosaur and I have been involved in promoting a new charity in Gloucestershire called Emily’s Gift operating under the umbrella of the Pied Piper Appeal. Their aim is simple: raise £500,000 in one year to fund psychological support for ten years for the families of the children’s oncology unit at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
Emily’s Gift – A New Children’s Cancer Charity Read More »
There are an awful lot of places around the UK that offer free holidays and mini breaks for children with cancer and their families. They are often close to major hospitals should the need for a visit arise and the majority are owned or operated by people who have experienced childhood cancer in some way.
UK Holidays for Children With Cancer Read More »
The first full week of February is feeding tube awareness week and until my own child needed a nasogastric tube (NG tube) I hadn’t really come across them very much. Many children who go through treatment for cancer will require tube feeding at some stage, mainly due to loss of appetite. One of the main
How To Tape An NG Tube Read More »
Christmas is fast approaching so it’s time to start thinking about Christmas gifts. Children with cancer may end up spending some time in the hospital during the festive period either for a planned treatment or an unplanned stay if they pick up an infection. It’s never fun being in the hospital but being in the
Christmas Gift Ideas for Children With Cancer Read More »
Becoming a chemo mum has a huge impact on your life. Not least because you spend vast quantities of time worrying about all your children. When I’m not worried about the health and well-being of the Dinosaur, I’m worried about the Unicorn and the impact all of this is having on her. On a day-to-day
A Day In The Life Of A Chemo Mum Read More »
We wanted to throw a birthday party for the Dinosaur this year because he’s never had one before but because he has cancer, we needed a non-soft play party. There are a few reasons why we’ve never thrown him a party. First, he was too young so a party seemed a bit pointless, then the
Non Soft Play Birthday Party Ideas Read More »
When your child has leukaemia, they have to have a weekly blood count to monitor their health. Chemotherapy can affect blood production so the full blood count (FBC) can detect whether they need either a red blood cell or platelet transfusion. The FBC also checks the level of neutrophils and white blood cells in the
As it is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month & Blood Cancer Awareness Month, I thought I’d do an A to Z on childhood cancer. This won’t be exhaustive as I’m only going to highlight one thing per letter of the alphabet but I hope that it will raise awareness of what life is like for a family living with
A To Z of Childhood Cancer Read More »
