#TeamMax ALL Fund

On this particular day, he had his blood test, and we headed home for dinner. He seemed fine – jumping around and winding up his brother! Later that evening, we had a call from a doctor in A&E requesting that Max come in straight away, with both parents present. We knew at that moment it was serious, and he was later diagnosed with leukaemia.

A few days later, we found out it was specifically acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and that Max was high-risk due to his genetics. We weren’t sure what his treatment would look like due to the high risk, but we took each treatment plan one month at a time. The photo of him in the white polo shirt was taken on the day of his blood test.

Max had been feeling unwell since February 2023, but no blast cells, immature blood cells that are not typically found in the blood of healthy individuals, were present in his blood, which meant we had to wait for a clear diagnosis before starting treatment.

When Max was diagnosed, he was under the shared care of John Radcliffe and Stoke Mandeville hospitals. We had multiple admissions, transfusions, procedures and more – all of which were exhausting for Max. But he was doing okay, and we continued to stay positive and prayed for a positive outcome.

He also underwent regular chemotherapy, and we hoped to see our Max get his personality back. At that time, our happy, carefree son seemed very much somewhere else.

He enjoyed sitting and playing games or having cuddles rather than running around the garden with a ball. He was still always smiling, and as long as he smiled at us, our family felt okay.

After nine months of chemotherapy and autoimmune therapy, unfortunately, Max’s cancer was still present. We were informed that he would need a bone marrow transplant. Without it, his chance of survival was just 10%.

Sadly, none of us in the family were matches, but in time, an anonymous full match was found on the register.

We were admitted to a hospital miles from home for over five months while Max underwent pre-transplant treatment, which included full-body radiation twice a day for several days. On 29 May 2024, Max received his ‘magic cells’ – his bone marrow transplant.

Max received his second chance, and he’s just celebrated his one-year re-birthday and is now one-year cancer-free ❤️ We have met so many amazing families on this journey, which makes us hopeful.

As a parent, I want to raise awareness and funds for future research projects to ensure children diagnosed with cancer have the best chance of recovery.

We’ve already started raising money by selling childhood cancer pin badges in workplaces and among family and friends, and we have many more fundraising plans for the future!