A family's world came crashing down as they discovered their youngest child has leukaemia. Little Wyatt Forster, aged two, now faces six months of chemotherapy.
He was diagnosed last week with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) - just days after his GP gave him antibiotics for an ear infection. Wyatt was first taken to hospital in Stoke before being transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital after the devastating diagnosis.
Mum Rhiannon, a hotel night manager who lives in Chesterton near Newcastle-under-Lyme 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 high price of fuel it’s proving to be costly for 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 eldest 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.”
You can support the fundraising appeal here.
