Kentish Express Ashford & District
Birthday backing for boy in hospital
Support comes from friends and sporting stars
Schoolboy Freddie Newing might have been lying in a hospital bed attached to drips and miles away from his classmates – but it didn’t stop an 11th birthday party.
Children at Ashford St Mary’s Primary School, in Western Avenue, sang Happy Birthday to their Year 6 friend via a Skype link and had cake in his honour.
Brave Freddie, who has acute myeloid leukaemia, turned 11 last Thursday and the singing message sent to him on Friday was not his only birthday treat.
He also went with his family and nurse to see the New Zealand All Blacks team training at The Stoop ground ahead of the Rugby Union World Cup. Freddie of Queen Street, Ashford, was diagnosed with leukaemia on July 16 at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and was rushed to paediatric intensive care at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, the next day for emergency chemotherapy treatment.
His mother Sally, who works for Maidstone Council, said that her sports-mad son, who played rugby for Ashford under-11s and football for Kennington juniors, began complaining of tiredness and headaches.
She struggled to get his condition treated seriously at first and wants other parents to be aware of symptoms and act on them immediately if they suspect something is wrong. Sally, who is also mother to Matilda, aged two and a half, is being supported by her partner Rob Graham.
Freddie’s father, Eddie Newing, is also caring for his son.
The 40-year-old mum said that Freddie’s diagnosis turned her world upside down.
She said: “I was in a state of complete shock when I found out about the leukaemia and in some ways I am still in shock. But Freddie is very strong and brave and he’s OK.”
Freddie, who is being treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital, in Surrey, has had two rounds of chemotherapy, but his first session left him so ill that he was returned to paediatric intensive care at St George’s again.
Now the brave youngster will need a bone marrow transplant at Christmas in his fight against the disease.
Sally said: “I think it has helped that Freddie was very fit and strong before his treatment – he even has a brown belt in karate.
“Now he can’t walk more than a few metres but he doesn’t complain about being ill – it’s me that does the crying, not Freddie.”