Matilda's Race for Life

This is an extract of an update posted by Luke's mum, once you read this, you will understand why we're doing this: Its been a tough week, a tough month. This boy, my beautiful, beautiful boy, how well he looks, except, he isn't. That's one of the many evil things about cancer. You can have it and have no idea. My heart still aches when I say it...my baby sadly relapsed at the beginning of January. As I watch him scoot round the playground, chase his sister in the park, and jump from sofa to sofa to avoid the sharks, I struggle to believe it....but it's true. The cancer has returned. Not in his bone marrow, his bone marrow and blood are beautifully clear - hence why it hasn't been detected sooner at check ups. The monster is growing in an area of soft tissue. Radiotherapy started this week. Radiotherapy....he is 4 years old.... The past month has been filled with tears, fear, CT scans, hours of MRI scans, blood tests, biopsies, having the dreaded Hickman line put back in, and the feeling of complete devastation to hear that there is no treatment protocol to follow for this rare type of relapse. Research into Childhood cancer is massively underfunded. People still have this misconception that children do not get cancer. They do. Oh my how they do. Over 4000+ innocent children in the UK alone each year. Awareness = funding = cures. There are so few drugs available to children and because of this, my son's future is now in jeopardy. His treatment plan will be a case of trial and error in hope of control. This shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't have happened the first time and it shouldn't be happening now. He does not deserve this. No one does. I am thankful he is incredibly strong and feeling incredibly well going into this fight. I am thankful for the past year full of happiness and non stop smiles. I am thankful for my family by my side. These things will get us through. We will not give in to this vile disease. Not ever.