SpongeBob surprise for little Cohen!

FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FIREFIGHTERS WELCOME RETURN OF BOY AFTER CANCER TREATMENT

FAMILY members, firefighters and Spongebob Squarepants welcomed a boy home for Christmas after treatment for cancer.

Cohen Earley, from Narborough, pictured, has cancer in his leg, which his parents Kat and Adrian noticed in March.

What appeared to be a lump turned out to be stage four alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.

Since his diagnosis in May he has undergone nine chemotherapy treatments – the latest one began on Monday.

It had looked like he might have to stay in hospital for radiotherapy over Christmas but he was able to return home for a few days, with the sixweek radiotherapy course starting on December 29.

After a miserable eight months of infections, side-effects and fatigue, there was a big smile on the fouryear-old’s face as he was welcomed back home on Thursday afternoon.

His mum said: “I drove to the hospital in Nottingham to pick him up and when we got back I parked at the top of the street.

“We walked down the road with him and there was a fire engine with its lights on, lots of his school friends and family out in the street to cheer him and his aunt, dressed as Spongebob, was at the door to welcome him back.

“He really lit up. There just the biggest smile on his face as he came home. He really loved it.

“He’s done really, really well.” Having so much chemotherapy has led to various side-effects, including severe mouth ulcers, and the line into his chest used for the chemicals became infected back in August, meaning an extra stay in hospital.

But Cohen seems to have managed the last two-and-a-half days of treatment better than usual.

Kat, 38, said: “He often gets home and the side-effects are so bad from the chemotherapy he’s back in hospital a couple of days later.

“And he often can’t stand the smell of food after his treatment. But after he got home today he was happily eating his dinner, which was wonderful.

“We haven’t got much time off but we’re going to make the most of it and go to see his dad’s parents on Christmas Day.”

She said Cohen had always been very healthy until the cancer suddenly appeared.

She said: “It was just a lump in his left leg, which we noticed as we were carrying him upstairs one night in March.

“The doctor suggested we take him to A&E and they did an ultrasound and he was diagnosed in May.

“Since then they’ve taken out a quarter of his calf muscle and there’s another lump behind his left knee that needs the radiotherapy next.

“He’s lost weight and it’s been a really rough time but he takes it all in his stride.

“For us as his parents it’s been a nightmare and I’d never wish it on anyone else.

“You can’t understand how things like this can happen to children.

“We’re in touch with a lot of other families elsewhere who are going through similar things and you often hear of children passing.

“I’m not even sure it’s really hit us yet, everything we’re going through.”

There was a fire engine with its lights on, lots of his school friends and family out in the street

Mum Kat