Six year old Alfie from Liverpool has just rang the end of treatment cancer bell at Alder Hey surrounded by his lovely family and the wonderful staff who helped him on his road to recovery.
Just after Alfie’s turned three, mum and dad noticed that he wasn’t feeling himself and was a strange colour. Mum Kristy called NHS111 and was advised to come to Alder Hey where he had his bloods taken. That same day, Alfie was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). ALL is a type of cancer where the bone marrow gets stuck making lots of abnormal cells that can’t mature properly, that end up crowding out the normal cells that it should be making.
“We were shocked and terrified. The news was so unexpected and Alfie had to start treatment the very next day.”
Mum Kristy
Alfie’s Consultant Oncologist, Dr Chris Howell explained “ALL is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. Because it stops the bone marrow making normal blood cells, the main symptoms of childhood ALL can include fever and repeated infections, bruising easily or bleeding gums, tiredness and weakness and shortness of breath or being very pale. It can also cause pain in the bones or joints that stops toddlers walking for no apparent reason. To treat Alfie’s ALL we needed to get his disease into remission with a month of fairly intensive chemotherapy, then stop it coming back with further chemotherapy over the following three years. Although this is mostly outpatient-based, it is still a long and often difficult journey and I am glad to see Alfie get to the end.”
Alfie had his last course of maintenance chemotherapy last week and said a big “Thank you for making me better” to the team who cared for him over the past three years. The family celebrated with a trip to Alton Towers with his big cousin, Josh, who has been a big support and great friend to Alfie.
Mum Kristy said “ We can’t wait to spend Christmas together as a family and me and dad Ian. We can’t thank everyone enough on ward 3B for looking after us all and their continued care and compassion. This is going to be our best Christmas yet.”