Hunter's Heroes is a Special Named Fund at CCLG raising money for research into acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
Hunter was seven years old when in December 2021 he was diagnosed with AML, a cancer of the blood. His mum Helen shares his story.
It was the summer of 2021, and Hunter was just your typical seven-year-old boy. He loved running around, playing on the beach with his dogs and generally getting up to mischief! But, as the summer went on, he started complaining that his legs hurt. As he was so energetic, his dad Oswyn and I just assumed he’d pulled a muscle, but we’d later learn just how wrong we were.
By October half-term, he was really complaining about his legs and was also constantly constipated. Doctors in the local hospital just kept telling us it was growing pains or a bad diet and gave us some laxatives. By this point, his energy levels were dropping and so was his weight.
We were adamant that there was more to Hunter’s symptoms and were getting fed-up of being told they were connected to nothing more than other, less serious childhood illnesses. It wasn’t until 5 December that we were finally listened to and Hunter was given blood tests and a CT scan in hospital. We were then told we had to be transferred immediately to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool as they didn't know what was wrong with him.
We arrived at Alder Hey at 5am on 6 December and - lots of pokes and scans later - we were told that day that Hunter had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), and the nightmare began. We were told he needed four rounds of chemotherapy along with numerous lumber punctures as he had leukaemia cells in the fluid around his brain and on his spinal cord.
Our first stay in Alder Hey was for seven weeks, meaning we spent Christmas in hospital and only saw Oswyn and Hunter’s brother, Jack, and sister, Matilda, at weekends. It was hoped that the planned four rounds of chemo would be enough, but unfortunately after round three – which Hunter was so poorly from - we were told the devastating news that the treatment hadn't worked and his numbers hadn't come down.
He then needed a bone marrow transplant and was admitted to Manchester Royal Hospital. He had the transplant, for which they used the cells from a donated umbilical cord from Spain, on 29 July. We spent nine weeks at the hospital and were finally allowed home on 14 September.
On 16 November we were told that the transplant had worked, and he was thankfully fully in remission. Hunter is now healthy and happy, back in school with all his friends and enjoying life again.
Despite all he went through, he breezed through all of the last year with a smile on his face and a thumbs-up. Everyone called him a little hero for being so brave and that’s why we’ve called this fund ‘Hunters Heroes’.
