Mum thrilled little fighter’s on road to recovery
BY JAMES MONCUR A BOY battling a rare form of leukaemia is finally on the road to recovery. Five-year-old Ace Ward is in remission after battling B-cell acute lymphobastic leukaemia and undergoing chemotherapy. His delighted mum said the Irvine schoolboy is responding well to medication after being diagnosed five months ago. But despite the good news mum Vicky Ward, 34, admitted it is the start of “‘a long horrendous” journey. She told the Record: “I was scared to share the good news at first or celebrate because things can change so fast but my husband said we should. “It is brilliant news just because he is very high risk. “We were waiting to see if he needed a stem cell transplant but luckily he doesn’t. It’s the first time in five months we have been told his medication is working so it’s great. Ace will still have to continue a painful treatment plan for a few years. Vicky added: “He has some really horrendous treatment ahead of him this is really just the first step but it means we are on the right track and that’s massive. He still has a long road to recovery ahead of him with nothing changing in terms of treatment plans for the next few years.
“He starts treatment back on Tuesday after having a week break and will be in four days a week.
“It will include painful injections into his muscles and medicine put into his spine that goes into his brain.
“He turns six in August so hopefully he’ll feel better and lockdown restrictions are lighter and we can have the family round to see him to celebrate.”
The news comes after the five-year-old touched the nation’s hearts by overcoming his fear of losing his hair with the help of his footballing idol, Celtic skipper Scott Brown.
The Record revealed how Ace was distraught at the prospect of losing his blonde spiky hair – but as soon as he realised he would be the same as his Celtic hero, he was delighted.
Vicky said: “Ace loves Celtic and Scott Brown is his absolute favourite player, he loves him.
“When his hair started to fall out it was coming out in lumps and even falling on to his plate when he was eating dinner.
“I just asked him if he wanted me to shave it all off. He said yes straight away then smiled and said, ‘I’ll have a Broony’.”
Because Ace was anxious about losing his hair Vicky and dad Brian had T-shirts made, reading, “No Hair Don’t Care”.
Vicky, who is also mum to Hallie, seven, and nine-year-old Harrison, added: “We got them made so he wouldn’t be self conscious and would feel proud so we took his picture and posted it on Twitter and said he had ‘a Broony’ and people tagged Scott Brown in it 2500 times.”
Ace – who receives treatment in Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children – was also thrilled after Brown saw the tweet and sent him a signed strip.