Hugs Children's Cancer Charity:
Henry's Story

Hugs Children’s Cancer Charity

Henry’s Story

At the age of 3, Elsbeth and Michael Hallam’s son Henry was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Neuroblastoma. The cancer had spread to his liver, lymphs, bone and bone marrow and the prognosis was incredibly poor.

It all started with some leg pain, a high temperature and a pale complexion but his parents knew something wasn’t right. What was initially thought to be a virus, soon turned in to a suspected fractured skull which required an emergency trip to Bristol Hospital. But it wasn’t a fractured skull, in fact it was much worse. It was cancer.

To be precise, Henry was diagnosed with neuroblastoma which is a rare form of children’s cancer. He underwent 80 days of initial chemotherapy, stem cell harvest, major surgery, high dose chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, radiotherapy and antibody treatment with randomised interleukin 2 injections.

Watching any child go through this highly intensive treatment is incredibly tough, but just imagine if it were your child. Cancer as an illness isn’t selective, it’s random and you’re incredibly lucky if you manage to avoid it.

Although Henry’s treatment has gone well it still remains an issue and although he’s now back at school he does struggles with many of the things that many young people of his age take for granted. To this day, Henry remains under the watchful eye of oncologists, cardiologists, endocrinologists and a renal team as well as a whole host of multi-disciplinary medial teams.

But Henry was one of the lucky ones and he now has a wonderfully positive attitude towards his life, the illness and his recovery. His journey is testament to his strength as a person and his lasting legacy is the charity that’s been set up as a result.

If, after hearing this story, you would like to donate to Hugs, then please click through to our JustGiving (insert link) page. The more we raise, the more families we can help.