Freddie's Story

"Freddie was a very normal two year old boy, just coming out of lockdown and starting to get back into nursery. About a month before diagnosis in June 2021 Fred had a febrile convulsion and was taken to hospital in an ambulance. The convulsion was put down to a virus and he was discharged. He recovered from that illness but soon after had another cold, not that unusual for a toddler in Nursery. Fred had also been having night sweats, but coincidentally we’d just moved into a new very hot flat, and we naively believed it was due to that. Night sweats are actually one of the early signs of leukaemia. Then one Friday we picked him up from nursery and the staff said he hadn’t seemed himself. He hadn’t wanted to eat much and seemed very tired. He normally walked home via the local park but this Friday he didn’t have the energy and had to be carried home. The next morning Fred woke up and was struggling to walk and had to hold on to the walls and furniture to get around. We called 111 and they suggested it might be a reaction to the previous viruses. We were told to keep an eye on him. 24 hrs later he couldn’t bear any weight on his legs and we were told to take him to A+E. The doctors requested blood tests when they saw his limited mobility, and the same day we found out that Fred had ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia). Everything changed in an instant, we became parents of a kid with cancer, and it felt unbearable. Fred has been undergoing treatment ever since, being looked after by the amazing staff at the Bristol children’s hospital. Fred is in a higher risk of relapse group, and has been part of a trial to reduce treatment time and test a new drug that will hopefully reduce his risk of relapse. It has been a hard few months for Fred recently. He has only been to school a handful of days in his first term with lots of admissions for temperatures and viruses. We are so looking forward to having a break and spending some time as a family. Thank you so much to BSF for letting us stay. Fred is a super smiley, fun and clever little kid who has been amazing throughout this crazy journey. We can’t thank enough the nurses, doctors, play therapists, physios and other families who have been part of Fred’s journey."