It was an intense seven weeks - I was only one in family who could visit Cameron in hospital
SISTER REVEALS IMPACT RULES HAD ON BROTHER’S FINAL DAYS
THE sister of a leukaemia patient has spoken of how she was the only member of her family allowed to visit her brother in hospital during the final days of his life.
Cameron Patel was diagnosed with leukaemia for the third time in April, during the first national lockdown.
His sister Charis told the Mercury she initially felt confident her brother would pull through after he had been diagnosed twice in the past and been through a bone marrow transplant.
While Cameron, from Knighton, underwent treatment, Charis was the only member of the family who was able to see him at Nottingham City Hospital, due to the restrictions put in place due to the pandemic.
Charis, 24, said they would celebrate the “little wins” and hoped Cameron would be “third time lucky” but after seven weeks in Nottingham they were told nothing more could be done and he was moved to Leicester Royal Infirmary five days before he died, where his family were allowed to see him.
Charis said: “Those seven weeks he was in hospital in Nottingham were awful. I thought I’d be able to swap with my mum at some point but the restrictions meant we couldn’t.
“It was a very intense time to be isolated and take on that role – doing things you wouldn’t usually have to as a sister.
“The other times were hard too but this was a completely different situation.”
Now, seven months after his death, Charis, who Cameron described as his “rock”, continues to campaign to raise awareness around blood cancer and stem cell donation, particularly within the black, Asian and ethnic minority communities – issues that were important to her brother.
“It just shows the impact that Cameron had and the love that he gave out was reflected in that.
“I can’t explain how proud of him we are,” Charis said.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, what Charis said what would have been a funeral of “hundreds, if not thousands of people” had to be massively cut down. “We couldn’t grieve the way we wanted to. We couldn’t have people round to the house or have anyone around to be there or just help out with household things when we were in that deep grief.
“But we did our best to make a special effort for Cameron’s friends at the funeral and make him proud,” Charis said.
In the years that Cameron was in and out of cancer treatment, his friends became a second family to both him and his sister and mum – a special relationship that Charis said they have maintained.
In November, Charis and her mum, Sarah, donated £4,500 to the Fletcher Ward in Nottingham City Hospital and £10,000 to the teenage cancer ward in the Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Now, Charis has started a new fund-raising campaign for DKMS, the blood cancer charity and hopes to raise enough to pay for a number of new donors to join the stem cell register.
“Cameron died before his 21st birthday so if I can just get 21 people to sign up to the DKMS register then that would be amazing,” she said.
Charis also hopes to fulfil Cameron’s goals to speak about stem cell donation across local schools along with his friend Courtney Wildin who he met on Ward 27.
The 24-year-old started an Instagram page to support others around her age dealing with grief through journaling her own experience – aiming to make death less of a taboo and encourage others to speak more openly about it.
We couldn’t grieve the way we wanted to. We couldn’t have people round to the house or just help out Charis Patel