The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Nothing keeps Toby down
As Childhood Cancer Awareness Month draws to a close, Michael Alexander meets a brave Cupar boy who has set up a charity while battling leukaemia
Toby Etheridge sits cross-legged on the floor holding what looks like a giant necklace covered in multi-coloured beads. However, the 12-metre-long thread is no item of jewellery.
It’s a visual guide to the intensive treatment the brave 11-year-old has been undergoing since being diagnosed with leukaemia and was inspired by the Beads of Courage charity, which encourages young cancer sufferers to keep a record of every milestone in their treatment.
“This is Toby’s journey since he started on his treatment. Every bead is a colour and every colour has a meaning,” explains Toby’s mum Alison, 44.
“It’s crazy when you see it laid out like this. It shows the intensity of the treatment in less than two years.”
Toby was in primary five at St Columba’s Primary in Cupar when he was diagnosed with the disease on December 12 2014.
The first sign of a problem came just a few weeks earlier when he complained of sore legs – something his dad Richie, 42, initially put down to growing pains.
However, after blood tests and an emergency transfusion his mum and dad were given worst news any parent could receive. Specialists confirmed that Toby had cancer and needed to undergo further emergency treatment at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
When the initial news was delivered, Richie admits he “lost it” – particularly as his own father had died from leukaemia just four years earlier.
“It’s a numb feeling. The fear of the unknown. There are no words to explain it,” he says.
Richie then had to break the devastating news in a phone call to Alison, who was celebrating her dad’s birthday in London.
“It was an inner shock. It just breaks you down, “she recalls. “It’s the fear that you might have to bury your child.”
Fast forward 21 months and Toby has been through a programme of gruelling treatment.
It will be April 2018 before his chemotherapy comes to an end and remission starts. He now has to take a cocktail of tablets every night and every 12 weeks he goes into theatre for a dose of chemo in his spine.
However, while the family were left reeling by the diagnosis, what struck Richie most was Toby’s response to the news. “Don’t worry dad. We’ll get through this,” the youngster assured him.
The family – and Toby – remain optimistic as the type of cancer he is fighting has a 98% successful treatment rate.
What is even more astounding is his dedication to helping others facing the same ordeal.
Having raised £20,000 already for children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent, the youngster, now back at school in primary seven, has set up his own charity.
Toby’s Magical Journey is raising money to support young cancer sufferers, whether it’s with the provision of a wheelchair, or something to “ease the boredom” if they are bedridden.
Since then, events have included Toby’s First Magical Ball in March where guests were treated to dinner cooked by former MasterChef champion Jamie Scott.
His efforts also won Toby a Kingdom FM Local Hero Award in August, something he admits he was “shocked” to receive.
And the whole experience has made the family realise the importance of more people adding their name to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register to help others in the same situation.