#TeamMax ALL Fund is a Special Named Fund at CCLG raising money for research into acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, in recognition of seven-year-old Max's ongoing treatment.
Max was 7 years old, when on the 25th of May 2023, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, his mum Laura shares his story...
Max was an energetic 6-year-old, he lived for sport. He played football and rugby weekly and everything he did was aimed around football.
He is the one child who is full of sarcastic comments and is always straight to the point giving his honest opinion. He is a strong character and once you meet Max, you never forget him.
Max was diagnosed one month after his 7th birthday, on the 25th of May 2023. This was three days after he had celebrated his delayed 7th birthday party. He had been having routine blood tests after a recent hospital admission in April 2023.
On this particular day, he had his blood test, and we headed home for dinner. He was fine, jumping around and winding up his brother! We then had a call from a doctor in A&E who requested Max came in straight away and both parents should also attend. We knew at this point it was serious, and he was later diagnosed with leukaemia.
We found out days later, that it was specifically acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and he was at high risk due to his genetics. We were not sure what treatment would look like due to him being high risk, but we took each treatment plan one month at a time. He is currently in the consolidation phase of treatment and this picture in the white polo is the day of his blood test.
Max had been feeling unwell since February 2023, but he was not displaying any blast cells in his blood, which meant we had to wait for a clear diagnosis before treatment could be started.
When Max was diagnosed, he was under shared care of John Radcliffe and Stoke Mandeville hospital. We had multiple admissions, transfusions, procedures etc, all of which were exhausting for Max, but he was doing okay and we continued to stay positive and pray for a positive outcome.
He also underwent regular chemotherapy treatment, and we were hopeful our Max would get his personality back in time. Our happy, carefree son was very much somewhere else at that time.
He enjoyed sitting and playing games and having cuddles, rather than running around the garden with a ball. He was still always smiling, and as long as he was smiling at us, our family felt okay.
After 9 months of chemotherapy and autoimmune therapy, unfortunately Max’s Cancer was still present and we were informed that Max needed a bone marrow transplant. With out this transplant, his chance of survival was 10%.
As a family we weren’t matches, but over time, an anonymous full match was found on the register.
We were admitted into a hospital that was miles from home, for over 5 months, whilst Max received his pre transplant treatment. This included full body radiation, twice a day, for a few days.
On 29th May 2024 he received his magic cells, his bone marrow transplant.
Max received his second chance, and he’s just celebrated his 1 year re-birthday and is a year cancer free. ❤️
We have met so many amazing families along our journey already which makes us hopeful.
As a parent I want to raise awareness and funds for future projects to ensure children who receive a cancer diagnosis stand the best chance of recovery.
We have already started raising money by selling childhood cancer pin badges within workplaces and among family members, and have lots of other fundraising plans in the future!
Make a donation to #TeamMax ALL Fund
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Open an online fundraising page for #TeamMax ALL Fund
Set up a regular Direct Debit donation to #TeamMax ALL Fund
Research projects funded
Developing ways to identify chemotherapy resistant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells
Fundraising pages
Text CCLGMAX 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 #TeamMax ALL Fund so that your donation is allocated to the correct fund.