Joshua's relapse cancer journey

C A N C E R - you never think it’s going to happen to your child but when they are diagnosed with cancer, your world falls apart, and in an instant life is never the same again. When you are told that your child's cancer has come back, it tears you apart in a way you could never imagine.

We find ourselves in need of your support to help financially, and to allow us to provide the best care and treatment available for Joshua, and provide as many smiles and happy moments we can along the way, while we fight this awful disease.

We will be sharing updates on instagram, please follow joshuatheultimatehero

Some background of Joshuas journey so far:

Our journey with childhood cancer started in April 2022 when our Son Joshua was diagnosed with a rare cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma. Before Joshua’s diagnosis we had never heard of this type of cancer but over the next 10 months we became experts - mum/dadcologists as we navigated a very difficult road.

Joshua underwent intense treatment at The Royal Marsden in Sutton, including 14 gruelling cycles of in-patient chemotherapy, major surgery to remove his kidney and primary tumour, and 25 days of radiotherapy. He was also blue-lighted to Intensive Care for emergency dialysis. Joshua spent over 170 nights in hospital, either for treatment or as a result of multiple infections between chemo cycles. He also spent his 11th Birthday and Christmas in hospital. We lost count of the number of times we made the 3 hour round trip for chemo/clinic/tests/scans etc, and during that time the children's unit became a second home. Throughout it all Joshua didn’t complain once despite everything he was going through.

Joshua completed frontline treatment in January 2023 and against all odds had no evidence of disease on his end of treatment scans.

After 6 short months of clear scans, Joshua's cancer came back with a vengeance and he relapsed in August, on the day he was due to go on a four day charity sailing trip and just three days after a clear MRI scan. On the day of his relapse, Joshua was not able to weight bear and as we rushed him to our local Hospital it became apparent that he was losing feeling in his legs. We were terrified and after an emergency MRI were taken to a room to be told his cancer had returned and was causing compression to his spinal cord. Things happened incredibly fast, and Joshua's wish of a helicopter ride was granted (in the most terrifying and traumatic way), and we were flown that evening to Kings College Hospital in London for emergency spinal surgery to relieve the pressure on his spinal cord. Despite the pain he was in - he smiled all the way in the helicopter and was sitting up in his hospital bed trying to look at the sights of London and talking to the pilot on the headset - typical for him always making the most of any situation. Incredibly after some recovery time he has regained some feeling and movement in his legs. We will be forever grateful to all the doctors, nurses, surgeons and helicopter crew that night for jumping into action so fast.

Unfortunately, when Sarcoma returns, it is terrifyingly aggressive. Joshua was thrown back into a world of endless scans and tests, and further treatment. He has had further chemo which hit him hard, and we were away from home for almost 12 weeks. Once again we are on reduced family earnings, and struggling to deal with the extra costs that come with caring for a child undergoing cancer treatment. It's such an uncomfortable thing to do, but it's time to swallow our pride and reach out for help. Joshua's treatment is ongoing, and we are more than ever aware of the need to make the most of every day. There is no set relapse treatment protocol for Joshua's type of cancer so we are continually investigating treatments abroad, as if there is something out there that is not available on the NHS then we would need to pursue this quickly, however there is always a cost to additional treatments and we would need to fund this ourselves. Furthermore there is currently no government support for families in our situation.

Likewise, we want to make Joshua's time special, and as scary as "making memories" sounds, regardless of what lies ahead, the last (almost) 2 years have been incredibly tough, and he deserves some happy times to make up for everything he has been through. No child should ever go through this. Joshua is our only child and we have always dedicated our lives to him but overnight we've also had to become his medical carers. Joshua's medications are constantly changing, keeping up with what he needs is very hard, and anything up to 37 tablets a day, including chemo which is not safe for us to touch without wearing gloves, due to the risks it could have to our health. There is so much more to write, but thank you for reading this if you have made it this far. We simply want to be able to give our son the best chance of beating this, and provide some smiles along the way if possible.

Any donations received to this go fund me page will be used towards Joshua’s care and needs and to help relieve the financial burden of being on reduced family earnings and the enduring costs that come with this unfortunate situation that could happen to anyone. If you are able to help with a few pennies or pounds, that would be a great help. If you are not, and are able to share, that would also be a great help.

Finally, please keep Joshua in your thoughts and prayers and wish him better. Knowing that people are thinking of him really does help lift our spirits.