Hi, I'm Steph and the little boy in the photo is my superhero nephew, Marshall. He is almost ready to ring the bell to signify the end of his three-and-a-half-year cancer journey. BUT, even though he has finished chemotherapy, Marshall refuses to ring the bell until he has his port removed. He is one determined 6-year-old!

Port is short for Portacath. It is a type of central line which allows chemotherapy, antibiotics, fluids and blood transfusions to be administered straight into the body. It also enables bloods to be taken. It’s a small chamber that sits under the skin on his chest, with a tube that goes up from the chamber over his clavicle and down into his heart.

~ Marshall's portacath ~

Marshall has now finished all his chemotherapy treatment and has no need for his port anymore. Yippee! Sadly, he is now on a long waiting list for the complex surgery to have it removed. The longer it is left in his body, the greater the risk of infection in the line which could lead to life-threatening sepsis and the greater the risk that it grows deeper into the tissues in his body making it more difficult to remove.

Your donation will enable my sister, Cat, to pay for this surgery with the expert team at Cardiff and cut the wait time from nine months to a matter of weeks enabling Marshall to ring the bell and truly finish his cancer journey.

Although the port is an incredible piece of medical technology, unfortunately for Marshall this has been one of the most traumatic parts of his treatment. Over three and a half years he has had his port accessed anywhere from daily, weekly to monthly. Each time a specialist nurse needs to pierce his chest with a sizeable needle in just the right place to ensure it is correctly located in the port under the skin. The trauma, anxiety and distress of this repeated process causes Marshall to struggle desperately, screaming and hitting out at his parents as they hold him down, often with the help of other staff members, to allow his port to be accessed.

~ Port access for Marshall is always traumatic ~

Marshall is six and a half now and is still extremely thin after treatment so his port can be seen under his skin. He is so conscious of it, he will always ensure he is wearing a t-shirt so he doesn’t see it. Until it is removed once and for all, it must be cleaned and flushed regularly to avoid infection. Each time is a traumatic event for Marshall, which would come to an end if the port were removed.

~ Marshall in one of his special port access t-shirts and my amazing sister Cat ~

Marshall is a bright boy. It is why he won’t ring the bell until his port is gone. Along with his parents, all of us want this to be over, desperately. BUT the waiting list is about 9 months. With your donation, we will be able to pay for this to be done privately and cut this ordeal to mere weeks.

Please help if you can. We cannot wait for our gorgeous Marshall to start living his life without this repeated and now unnecessary distress.

Many thanks for reading and please share this so we can help this horrific journey be over sooner for my sister and her amazing little family. Thank you x