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.
Trigger warning: this is a deeply emotional post and talks about my fears of my child dying. Today is the Dinosaur’s 5th birthday, we have a lot of fun things planned to celebrate. As he’s only just started school he’s finishing at lunchtime so when I pick him up I’m going to take him to […]
Saturday Week 19, Day 130. We decided to get out of the house for a couple of hours but as it was a rainy day we thought we’d do something indoors. The Unicorn, the Dinosaur, Nanny and I went to The Studio Cinema, Coleford to see the latest film in the Toy Story franchise: Lightyear.
Week 19 – ALL Chemotherapy Read More »
I’ve been sharing some of our Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia journey since the Dinosaur was diagnosed in February 2022 (read more here). I thought it would be helpful to start sharing a little more of the day-to-day as this is a long treatment process. For us, the end of treatment will be in March 2024 provided
Week 17 – ALL Chemotherapy Read More »
Receiving a childhood cancer diagnosis changes your entire life instantly, not only do you need to come to terms with that but you also need to learn what feels like an entirely new language of medical jargon so that you know what’s going on. This cancer terms glossary explains what these words and acronyms mean.
Cancer Terms Glossary Read More »
When the Dinosaur was diagnosed with leukaemia, we spent the first 2 weeks of his treatment in the hospital so we needed to whip together a hospital bag pretty quickly. When he was discharged, we were warned that we would need to keep a hospital bag packed and ready to go because if he gets
What To Pack In The Hospital Bag Read More »
During our journey, we have been fortunate enough to receive help and support from a number of childhood cancer charities. Quite a few of these I had never heard of until we needed them but I will be forever grateful for all they have done for us. Here are the childhood cancer charities that have
Childhood Cancer Charities Read More »
In February 2022, the Dinosaur was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (read more here). Even in those first few days, it became apparent extremely quickly that this would cost a lot. I’m so thankful that we have the NHS because we don’t have to pay for any of the treatment which is a huge relief,
The Costs Of Cancer Read More »
When you find out that a child has cancer, it’s only natural to want to send a get-well-soon gift. Most people’s immediate reaction was to send things like sweets and chocolate, while this is a lovely gesture, it wasn’t the best gift option as the medication the Dinosaur is on has affected his tastes. He
Gift Ideas For A Family Dealing With Cancer Read More »
If you are reading this then the chances are that someone you know has received the devastating and life-altering news that their child has some form of childhood cancer. The natural response is to want to do something to help and to try and make things better, or at least make things a bit less
Childhood Cancer – 10 Things You Can Do To Help Read More »
Finding out that your child has cancer is one of the most terrifying things you can hear as a parent (read our story here). It’s one of those nightmare scenarios that you imagine when you watch something like Children In Need but nothing can prepare you for if it actually happens to you. How you
What Not To Say When A Child Has Cancer Read More »
