Harrison was just 4 years old, when on the 16th April 2020 he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. His mum, Julia, shares his story...
Life before Harrison's diagnosis was fun. Harrison and Mya (his twin sister) were just like other 4 year old's. They loved running around and playing, Harrison was also loving school in Reception, before covid hit.
Harrison had multiple high temperatures, which he was prescribed antibiotics for (this was over the phone as we weren't able to see the GP in person due to covid). His legs were also hurting and he struggled to walk well. It was just after lock down and everyone was worried about going anywhere and the doctors didn’t want to see anyone face to face.
Following an emergency doctors appointment and after they weren't able to find any issues, he was transferred to the hospital for blood tests. Harrison was later diagnosed on the 16 April 2020 in Basingstoke hospital. The moment we were told he most likely had leukaemia I broke down, I had no idea it was going to be that bad.
He had 6 months of high intensity chemotherapy, followed by twelve 3 month cycles of a mixture given at home, as well as chemotherapy administered by IV and lumbar puncture.
Harrison is doing really well, he’s handled treatment amazingly. He has struggled with having blood tests weekly but has turned a corner now thankfully. He’s been to school most days and he even wanted to go in after a lumbar puncture. He’s an absolute trooper!
Harrison is very curious, funny, cheeky, kind and thoughtful. He doesn’t stop talking and LOVES crisps! He loves learning and wants to know every detail.
He also enjoys Pokemon, gaming, exploring, learning new facts, and the book series called Dog Man.
Initially we set up a Special Named Fund as a company I used to work with asked Harrison to pick a charity to give their Christmas charity collection to. We wanted the money to go directly toward research into ALL, so approached CCLG about setting up a Special Named Fund and including this donation.
Since then we have sold lots of badges and key rings and now we’d like to raise awareness while also raising important funds to help provide kinder treatments for children going through this.
Having lived through this difficult journey, which no one should have to go through, we want to help fund vital research to make sure kinder treatments are available for other children in the future.
We first called the fund ‘Super Hal Hal fights ALL’ as Harrison is the ultimate super hero to us. I called him Hal Hal and he continues to fight ALL so it just made sense for us to call the Special Named Fund this. But when we talked more recently about raising money, Harrison was keen to make it less about him and more about fighting ALL, so we changed it to ‘Fight ALL Together’.
Make a donation to Fight ALL Together
.
Open an online fundraising page for Fight ALL Together
Set up a regular Direct Debit donation to Fight ALL Together
Research projects funded
Developing ways to identify chemotherapy resistant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells
Fundraising pages
Text CCLGHARRISON to 70085 to donate £5.
CCLG will receive 100% of your donation. You may also be charged for one text message at your network’s standard or charity rate.
You can make a donation or pay in funds raised by cheque, payable to CCLG, to CCLG, Century House, 24 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GB. Please ensure you make it clear that the donation is for Fight ALL Together so that your donation is allocated to the correct fund.