Tyler's Story

The start of everything with Tyler was Christmas day 2021 at just 19 months old, only we didn't know it.

He had a week of really high temperatures. When we eventually saw a doctor (thanks to covid) they prescribed antibiotics not knowing what the problem was and sent us on our way.

5 days later he got some odd bruises on his arm, the next day was a rash in the same spot that didn't disappear with a tumbler so that was the trigger for taking him to A&E. Our world turned upside down that night when the doctors told us they suspected Leukaemia and we were being transferred to Leeds Children's Hospital as soon as an ambulance became available. I don't think anyone can prepare a parent for the C word.

After several tests the next day we had a formal diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia within 36 hours of walking into A&E. The next 6 weeks passed in a blur of new terminology, new Chemotherapy drugs, new problems. He really struggled with treatment in those first few weeks and got several infections on top of what his body was dealing with. Not only were we dealing with that, but in that first week we also found out that we were expecting his little brother - just another layer of mental overload to add to our situation.

We were so happy to eventually get Tyler home in the middle of February 2022 when he'd finished his first stage of treatment and was stable enough and we were told that his MRD test had come back negative and he was officially in remission.

He really came back to us once he got home and although we were at the hospital every week for more treatment, we adapted to a new normal life of intensive Chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, scans and blood tests over the next 6 months.

Tyler moved from intensive Chemotherapy onto 3 years of Maintenance chemo in September 2022 and his little brother was born just a couple of weeks later.

His hair has since grown back and he's grown into a fully blown pre-schooler. To anyone that looked at him they wouldn't know what he's been through and is still going through everyday but he deals with it like an absolute trooper. He has about 14 months of Chemo left to go and we can't wait to ring that bell.

Dealing with the daily meds, juggling all the unexpected hospital trips because of temperatures around our day jobs, the worrying about simple things like coldsores - they can make for very stressful days sometimes. Taking ourselves out of the everyday is what we really need to recharge and I'm so grateful to the Ben Saunders Foundation for providing us with the opportunity to do just that.