A family-of-seven have had their world turned upside down after the youngest child was diagnosed with cancer.
Mum Rhiannon Forster discovered the unusual marks all over two-year-old son Wyatt's neck arms and legs just days after his GP prescribed antibiotics for an ear infection. She took the toddler to Royal Stoke University Hospital where, after carrying out some blood tests, doctors diagnosed him with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) on July 13.
Little Wyatt now faces six months of gruelling chemotherapy and has been transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital to begin the treatment, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports. Rhiannon, who works as a hotel night manager and lives in Chesterton with her 43-year-old husband Sam - has taken six months off work so she can stay by her son's side during the challenging road ahead.
Rhiannon, who works as a hotel night manager and lives in Chesterton with her 43-year-old husband Sam - is now having to take six months off work so she can support her boy through the intensive treatment.
Mum-of-five Rhiannon told StokeonTrentLive: “He was very down and he didn't want to play which is very unusual.
“When he got up on Tuesday, July 12 I noticed he was covered in bruises all over his neck, arms and legs. I knew it wasn’t right.
“I phoned 111 and was advised to wait for an ambulance. We waited for two hours and no one showed up so I took him to hospital myself around 4pm. An hour later we were upstairs in the children's assessment unit and they had taken some blood.
“I was just about to go to sleep at 12.30am when a consultant and nurse came to see me and told me Wyatt had got leukaemia. I was shocked and couldn’t get any words out. I couldn’t even cry because I was in shock. It's really upset me.”
ALL is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many immature white blood cells. Wyatt has already undergone a blood transfusion and surgery for a bone marrow extraction to determine what type of leukaemia he has.
Though Rhiannon has stayed by her son’s bedside since last week, dad Sam has had to travel between Birmingham and North Staffordshire so he can care for their other children. With the prices of fuel going up, it’s proving to be a costlyfor the family.
The Forsters will lose £1,200 a month with Rhiannon being out of work. And they were due to go on a caravan holiday in Northumberland this weekend but have had to cancel following a stressful past couple of weeks.
Family friend Kirsty Copeland has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with any expenses they need while Rhiannon is out of work.
Rhiannon, 31, added: “It’s been a bit hectic for us. I don’t know how I feel at the moment, it’s still sinking in. I was crossing everything that they had made a mistake and it wasn't leukaemia.
“Hopefully next week, depending on how he reacts to chemo, we should be able to come back to our own hospital in Stoke-on-Trent which will be a bit easier. It’s going to be a very tough road with a lot of hospital trips.
“It’s going to put a strain on the family. My oldest son is not taking this well. He understands Wyatt is very poorly and is struggling with me not being at home.
“We are going to have to be traveling up and down from Birmingham. With the rising costs of fuel, it’s very hard for us to keep up. I am gobsmacked and can’t believe how quick and fast everybody has got behind us. Everyone has been really supportive.
“I haven’t got words to express the gratitude I have got for everybody that’s come together. It really does pull on my heart strings and I do get quite upset and teary over it.”
Support the fundraising appeal here.
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