The 15th September 2015 is a date our family will never forget. This the date our beautiful two year daughter Abi was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia. It is the date the walls came crashing down and the date our worlds are turned upside down. However straight away there was support from Young Lives v Cancer (known as CLIC Sargent then), we were introduced to the Social Worker that assisted with grants, negotiations with employers, an ear to listen to you and opportunities to do things that a weakened immune system would not allow you to do such as attend panto or the cinema. In addition to this at the time they funded two nurses that did a presentation to the nursery and would administer medical procedures at home to reduce the need for hospital visits. They still do help with simple things like help with guidance and advice and can act as an advocate.

As parents the control to keeping your child safe and well has effectively been handed to the doctors and nurses. Fundraising and volunteering for Young Lives v Cancer allowed us to regain some of that control.

Abi’s cancer is not curable but treatable (from a medical perspective – although there is hope), she also has a cancer that normally affects old men, so the treatment is not tailored for a children. However she is doing very well. Her Leukaemia is kept under control thank to these magic tablets. Although she still has a number of side effects to deal with such as joint and bone pain, she stopped growing, she loses her hair, gets regularly rashes across face and chest. Despite this 6 years on she leads a normally life going to school and clubs including Football, Brownies, Gymnastics and Taekwondo. To get to this point in the early years the support from YLVC helped Abi her sister, who started school one week before the diagnosis and parents and this Fund is the families why of saying Thank you!