MASSIVE RESPONSE TO HELP SAVE LIFE OF YOUNG SCHOOLBOY

AN APPEAL to help save the life of a Nuneaton schoolboy battling cancer has had an incredible response in its first few days.

Family and friends of seven-year-old Kacper Goldiszewicz last week launched an appeal to a find him a matching bone marrow donor to cure his leukaemia.

Now dozens of testing kits have been sent out to homes across Nuneaton and Bedworth and beyond to people touched by Kacper’s story and who are desperate to help.

Many took to Facebook to proudly post photos of the kits, prompting family friend Marta Krumholc, who is heading up the campaign, to reply: “Wow! Guys you make me cry! How many testing kits I see here!”

Kacper, who is from the Stockingford area of town, has spent the past two months – including Christmas – in Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

He has already undergone two courses of chemotherapy and is due another, but because medics have said he is high risk, his best chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant.

While Kacper’s mum Anna keeps a constant vigil by his bedside and his father Artur works and then attends hospital, they have turned to their friends to launch the Help Kacper campaign to find the vital donor.

Marta said: “He is doing so well, he is always smiling, his parents are trying to make life as normal as possible for him in the hospital, they just know that he needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life.

“No one says the ‘c’ word (cancer) in front of Kacper as he lost his aunty to cancer only a few years ago and it makes him think of dying, and we just want to help Kacper and find the donor who could save his life.”

Teachers at his school, Stockingford Primary, have thrown their weight behind the campaign, sending a letter out with every child, asking their parents or carers to register to become a donor.

It reads: “Our Year 2 pupil Kacper Goldiszewicz has been diagnosed with AML, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. He has just completed his second course of chemotherapy but is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant.

“His parents would like to ask everyone to register as a bone marrow donor. The more people that register, the higher the chances of finding a match for Kacper. It won’t cost a penny but it might save Kacper.”

Back in November Kacper complained of an painful earache and his mum took him to the doctors, and he was given antiobotics.

Just a couple of days into the course of antibiotics, he started having difficulty breathing, so his mum took him to A&E at the George Eliot Hospital fearful that he may have had an allergic reaction to the medicine.

Never in the family’s worst nightmare could she have imagined what was wrong with him – a blood test revealed that he had leukaemia.

He was transferred from the Nuneaton hospital to University Hospital in Coventry and then to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where he has spent all but one day since November 22.

He came home on New Year’s Eve, which he spent with his family, including his ten-yearold sister Agata, his oneyear-old sister Maria and his grandparents, but has spent the rest of the time in the hospital.

“His family don’t want to risk him getting an infection,” Marta said.”

“It was nice that he could spend New Year’s Eve with his family but they don’t want to risk him getting a cold or getting ill, so he is staying in the hospital.”

Kacper loves learning, so much so that he is continuing with his lessons in hospital: “He is very intelligent, he loves learning and his mum has been in touch with the school and they have given her things that she can do with him in the hospital,” Marta added.

Playing his Play Station 3 is another of his favourite pastimes and he loves wearing football kits, but it is his constant smile that is keeping everyone else going through the tough days.

“He is such a happy boy, he has been smiling throughout this, and we just want to help him,” Marta added.

So far the ‘Help Kacper’ campaign has been given huge support, but his family want to spread the appeal even further.

They have joined forces with the Anthony Nolan Trust and DKMS.

The Anthony Nolan Trust say it is simple to join its register. People have to be aged 16 to 30, weigh at least 50kg, and be in good health.

People can sign up online at www.anthonynolan.org to receive a swab kit. Kacper’s story is also being shared on the DKMS website, and people can also register for a swab kit by logging on to www.dkms.org

To find out more about the campaign, log on to facebook.com and search for ‘Nuneaton Child Needs You - Help For Kacper’