Mum Victoria McDonald has told how her whole world “stopped and crumbled” when she found out her four-year-old son, Calum, had cancer.
In a heartbreaking interview, published today, she said: “All you want to do is take it away from him, you want to take it yourself so he doesn’t have to go through it.”
It is impossible to imagine the full horror of discovering your child has a life threatening illness unless you have experienced it.
But Victoria’s words give a terrifying insight into that nightmare.
She and partner Andrew thought Calum had a routine chickenpox infection. But subsequent tests revealed he had neuroblastoma.
His devastated parents were then informed the disease had spread to other parts of his body and that the outlook was not good.
They are now desperately trying to raise £250,000 to send him to America for an experimental drug trial which could extend his life.
He has already endured seven gruelling cycles of chemotherapy and faces a further stem cell transplant and four weeks of radiotherapy.
His cancer has a five-year survival rate of around only 50 per cent and Victoria and Andrew hope that travelling to New York for the drug trial could extend that outlook.
Victoria has already watched her mum die of cancer and she is determined to do everything she can to give her son the best possible chance of the longest life.
She has praised the fantastic treatment provided by the NHS but, as any parent would, she wants to be sure that every possible opportunity to give Calum more time has been taken. She has already raised more than £65,000 towards the cost of taking him to America but there is a long way to go in her fundraising drive.
Even the smallest donation will give her family the helping hand they desperately need for Calum.
Selfish Boris is a big spender
When Boris Johnson became prime minister in 2019, he earned a salary of £154,908.
But it didn’t stop the entitled Etonian constantly harping on about how skint he was.
It left Johnson so hard up he had to arrange an £800,000 loan through old chum Richard Sharp, who ended up landing a top job as BBC chairman.
What an uplifting rags-to-riches tale, therefore, that he has now been able to pay £3.8million in cash for his lavish new home.
Johnson is too often treated as an affable buffoon who would be good fun to have a pint with. But evidence increasingly suggests he is a grasping and selfish bore who would be unlikely to buy a round.
He loves money but not hard work or spending it on anyone but himself and his personal finances are as murky as his
disastrous premiership.
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