Brave Fraser Hinde was given just a five per cent chance of survival as he battled outbreaks of cancer that ripped through his little body. Initially diagnosed with leukaemia at just 17 months of age, his parents were told it was an extremely rare form and offered palliative care.
Fraser spent years in and out of hospital having treatment and, despite being given the all clear twice, the cancer kept returning. At one point when tumours were found in his head, neck and down his spine, doctors said he should have been paralysed as it was compressing on his spinal cord.
His mum and dad Alison Gaffney and Andy Hinde were told by medical staff, after his bone marrow was 80 per cent covered with cancer, there was virtually no chance of him recovering. The devastated couple prepared to lose their son.
Alison, 33, of Great Okley in Corby, Northamptonshire, said: "They offered us palliative care and to send him home because he had endured so much at such a young age and they said he wouldn't have a quality of life after the transplant. In my head, it's really sad but I planned his funeral, I planned the songs that were gonna get played.
"I planned who was bringing him in, how it was going to work. Literally the bed is starting to get rolled out and I'm thinking I'm never gonna see him again."
But after finding a match from an umbilical cord in Belgium, Fraser underwent a bone marrow transplant and began an amazing recovery. Three years on from being given the all-clear, he has been hailed a "medical miracle" with doctors terming his fightback ‘The Fraser Effect’.
His proud mum said: "He is at school, he has started swimming lessons today. He is not just surviving he is thriving."
Fraser was first diagnosed with leukaemia on April 9, 2018. The following month, doctors told Alison and Andy that they had found a "super rare" genetic mutation known as B-cell ALL with Burkitts MYC gene - a highly aggressive B cell neoplasm.
It had never been treated at the hospital before. And Alison said it was a "guessing game" for the doctors trying to treat her son. Fraser "lived" in Leicester Royal Infirmary for eight months while being treated and the family faced a rollercoaster of emotions as the cancer repeatedly returned.
After eight rounds of irradiation, Fraser received a bone marrow transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Then after a 10/10 match was found from an umbilical cord in Belgium, he began his startling recovery.
Alison said: "We were told that it may take a bit longer for Fraser to see if the transplant had worked because they used an umbilical cord. Eleven days after transplant, he grafted on Christmas Eve and he has gone from strength to strength - the recovery he made was unbelievable."
Fraser was released from hospital on January 11, 2020, and is now three years cancer free. He has a few health issues as a side effect from the radiation which includes, cataracts in his eye, sore legs in the evening and being unable to have children.
But Alison said he is "phenomenal", adding: "We have been signed off from our consultant, it is crazy. He has had his first swimming lesson on the weekend, he jumped in the pool and got on with it and we explained to his teacher what he had been through and she was shocked.
"He defied everything that we threw at him, he is the one that showed us strength and how to do things - we are in awe of him. We really weren't expecting the miracle that we have had - he has blown us away.
"We are ever so grateful for the teams at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Great Ormond Street Hospital for their care and support."
