CANCER SURVIVOR KIDS Bravely back to school
Help improve treatments
LAST September, Kira Percival’s smart new uniform lay at home unworn – because the youngster, who had been so excited about starting reception, was in hospital fighting cancer.
“She’d tried it all on and loved her shoes and school bag,” says mum Suzanne, 34. “But that August she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Her legs had been covered in bruises and she’d started having naps.” She had a lumber puncture, four blood transfusions and months of intensive chemotherapy at Royal CANCER Research UK Kids & Teens is a campaign that raises vital funds for research into new and kinder treatments for children with cancer – with fewer side-effects.
Every year, around 4,500 children and young people up to 24 are diagnosed in the UK.
Up to 80 per cent survive their disease for at least five years, many thanks to the work of Cancer Research UK.
But the disease still kills around 520 each year – while survivors can often experience lifelong side effects. Find out how you can help at cruk.org/ kidsandteens. Manchester Children’s Hospital. Kira, now five, went into chemotherapy maintenance in March and started school full time in April.
Nursery nurse Suzanne, of Altrincham, says: “Now she has a nurse’s outfit and pretends to give us chemo.
“Seeing her go off in her uniform to Year One means so much. I didn’t think it would happen. I was afraid I’d lose her.”
Kira said what she was most looking forward to was “having a lunchbox and seeing my friends”. PARENTS of cancer children become adept at reassuring their little one he or she will get better one day.
Rarely does that reassurance happen the other way round. So when five-year-old Rayaan Zafran talked to his mum Aneesa one day to stop her worrying, it was a moment to treasure.
“He said, ‘Mummy, I know I have cancer. I said to my friend I’m still going to hospital. I’m not fully better, but I’m going to get better’. Rayaan has been so strong. I owe it to him to be strong too.” Rayaan, of Burnley, was nearly three when diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. “He was lethargic and went off his food. His stomach was swollen so I took him to A&E. When we were later told he had leukaemia, I went into shock.” The youngster underwent two months of intensive chemotherapy at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. He lost his hair and couldn’t walk. Aneesa, 25, says: “You want to take the pain away, but you can’t. You think, ‘Why is this happening to my child’? Now he’s on chemotherapy maintenance which will stop in April. We’ll know whether the leukaemia’s gone in the six months following.” Rayaan wants to be a doctor when he grows up so he can “give people injections to make them better”. He started Barden Primary School on Monday. He says: “My teacher’s the best thing about going to school.” Aneesa says: “He couldn’t wait to go. I never thought he would be this well.”