Harry's Wilms' tumour story

Meetings, biopsies and results

The following two weeks were a blur of doctor and consultants meeting, biopsies and then the results appointment. And on that day my mum and I sat and waited as the consultant ran two hours late! When he came to call us in from the waiting room, he winked at me and for a second or two I thought ‘we are fine, it’s benign’. But once in the room, any hope was shattered as he confirmed it was in fact a Wilms’ tumour. The appointment passed in a blur. I remember walking down the corridor to the lift crying so much I couldn’t get my words out to speak clearly on the phone to my husband. That night I sat all three children down and explained that Harry had cancer and the doctors were hopeful that with treatment and operations he would be fine. The next morning I had to go into school to explain to the teachers. And then that afternoon – less than 24 hours after diagnosis – Harry was taken to theatre to have a central line put in under general anaesthetic.

Amazing support from family and friends

My husband Paul stayed with him and I visited every day and ran the home, worked part time and looked after Luke and our older daughter Olivia. I had fantastic support from my mum, my father was very poorly himself and being housebound couldn’t visit, but was of wonderful support too.  It was so devastating for them to watch Harry so poorly. I had support from an amazing friend too and if Harry was poorly or had a temperature she would drive him to hospital or come and visit if we were in. One of Harry’s drugs made him so sick. To avoid being in hospital for three or four days, the community nurses visited us three times a day at home to administer IV drugs while we tried to keep some kind of routine for Olivia and Luke. One weekend Harry was so angry and felt so rotten he shouted at me that he knew he was going to die – it broke my heart.  If I could have taken the illness for him I would have done it in a heartbeat.  Someone once said to me everything happens to us for a reason, but still to this day to send a child to hell and back I will never get my head around. Harry managed three/four days a week at school while he was poorly and was even given a bed to lie on in the corner of the class room should he need a rest.