Charlie on his journey & fight against leukaemia

Hi,

I’m proud to say I’m mummy Vicky to this brave, strong little boy Charlie Thompson.

Along with Charlie’s daddy Tony & other loved ones who Charlie adores. We are hoping to raise money to support Charlie on his tough journey fighting leukaemia and to go towards Charlie’s dream of going to Disney land, when he rings that bell to say he’s clear of cancer, at the end of his 2 + year treatment.

On the 14th August our lives got turned upside down, as we noticed lumps under his chin, some large and others the size of marbles in his hair line and going down his neck. We went to Harrogate District hospital (HDH) to see the paediatrician-and they after doing several tests and examinations sent us to see the specialists at Leeds. On the 18th August Charlie was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We had a long stay in hospital at Leeds Children’s hospital (LGI), which consisted of lots of blood tests, injections, treatments (Charlie became a human pin cushion), bone marrow, lumbar puncture and his introductory stage of his chemotherapy started, which included steroids and him having a Central line port put in, which will stay in throughout his treatments.

Charlie has amazed us with how brave he is (braver than us at times!), he is bossing it, and bosses the doctors and nurses about! Charlie says he would like to become a doctor when he is older to help other babies and children with ‘poorly blood’ like him. This is how we explained it to Charlie and his twin brother Freddie (along with other younger members of the family): that he has poorly lumps and poorly blood. As you can imagine this is a parents worst nightmare- how do you tell your little boy aged 6, that he has a very serious illness and potentially life threatening?! We told Charlie due to him having poorly lumps and blood he will need to have lots of medicine, little operations / treatments under a magic sleep and sometimes we’ll have to have sleep overs at the hospital, that he would lose his hair- but that means his superpowers and medicine are working to fight against the naughty thing making him poorly, which is called Leukemia. Freddie had his hair cut very short to be like Charlie, so he wasn’t the only one with ( in the words of Freddie) ‘no hair and it’s only fair he’s the same’. Charlie is responding well to his treatment and has finished his introductory stage and he’s now on the first stage of chemotherapy. We hope and pray he continues to respond well to all treatments. He is currently at home and we hope he’ll have more time at home than stays in hospital. The staff at the LGI, Community Childrens Nurses, support from local charities, outside sources along with love and support from family and friends has been / is amazing and it’s truly appreciated!

We as a family have a long road ahead of us and it makes it that little bit easier knowing we have all the love and support from those around us.

Charlie is a strong little boy and at the end of all of this, when he gets to ring that bell, we would love to make his dream come true and to take him on his dream holiday.

With lots of love from,

Charlie and family. xxx

#teamcharlie

(* FYI- Sandra is taking care of all donations made on our behalf.) xxx