Ollie's story

“In a way we were lucky,” Rachel says. “The bruises appeared and the cancer was diagnosed immediately, meaning the treatment could begin quickly, before things became worse.”

What I remember about that day is that for a moment the whole world stood still. Then it reorientated itself, and everything took off in an entirely new direction.

It’s amazing how quickly you go from worrying about whether they’re going to be alive for Christmas, to worrying about money, to telling family members, to organising the practical things and more.”

The medical journey begins

Ollie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) which, Rachel says, felt like a small blessing during a terrible time.

“ALL has had so much really good research done around it. As a result, it has the best outcome of any type of cancer,” she says.

But that wouldn’t necessarily help.

The day after being diagnosed, Ollie went into surgery to have his central line inserted. He also had a chest X-ray, a lumbar puncture, began intravenous chemo and was given intravenous fluids.

Ollie then spent the next nine months in several different blocks of chemotherapies.

“We were very lucky that the drug arrived on time. It came in at 11pm and it pulled him back from the brink. Because of that, he pulled through.”

Prior to the drug arriving, Rachel video-taped Ollie as he slept in his hospital bed. She believed it might be the last night she’d ever see her son alive.

“I didn’t quite know what else to do,” she recalls. “Everything is just so up and down, but the treatments to get there are just so brutal. Then, in that moment, you’re just hoping for another hour, maybe even another day.”

Light in the dark

“When I look at Ollie now, at how healthy and lively he looks, it blows my mind,” Rachel says.

“My Facebook memories come up and I see this time last year what we were suffering, and how I was just hoping for one more hour of his life, and then this morning I dropped him off at school, like any other child!”

His time in hospital, however, wasn’t all bad. In fact, there was one particular moment that offered a sad boy great joy.

During clinic sessions, Rachel says, the children are allocated a bed or a chair. They’re told where to go and it’s all very impersonal and a little bit frightening. They’re already apprehensive and fearful and they’re not looking forward to what’s coming.

“Then, to have that teddy bear sitting in its box on the chair or on the bed, and it’s all for him, and he gets to open it up himself and find out what’s inside, he just loved it,” she says.

“They get so excited to receive something special, to have something cuddly to hold on to when they’re not feeling great. For ten minutes, they’re not thinking about all of the horrible things that are going to happen to them that day. It lifts their entire day.”