A mum has spoken of her shock after taking her three-year-old son to the GP with sore legs only to find that he had leukaemia.
Kerry Nichols took her son Mason Tozer to her GP after he was having trouble walking, with the doctor discovering a pinprick rash on his legs. After blood tests taken in the nearest town of Carlisle showed that he had a low count of both platelets and haemoglobin and his white blood cells were showing signs of leukaemia, he was taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, where mother and son have been since the evening of Wednesday November 30.
Kerry and partner Simon Tozer are now looking at twice-weekly 90-minute journeys from their home in Blennerhasset, Cumbria to Newcastle for the next six months as Mason embarks on an intensive treatment programme. As well as having chemotherapy once a week, Mason will need another injection once a week and a lumbar puncture and bone marrow aspiration every fortnight, as well as taking steroids daily.
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He'll then have to travel to Newcastle once a month for the following 18 months for "maintenance" and more check-ups. Doctors have told the family that there is a 90% success rate of curing the condition, but Kerry still says that the diagnosis has still come as a shock.
Kerry, a housekeeping manager at a hotel in Carlisle, said: "It's obviously been a shock to take Mason to the doctor for sore legs and you're expecting to hear growing pains or something along those lines, to then have leukaemia thrown at you. Each day I'm waking up and I'm trying to forget about what happened the day before, and that's the only way I'm managing to get through it."
Three-year-old Mason is autistic so struggles to manage his emotions and has been "extremely grumpy" since his diagnosis. Kerry continued: "He's been up and down, he doesn't want anybody touching him or handling him, if anybody talks to him he just says no. He's not happy but he's taking it all in his stride and he's not kicking up as much of a fuss as he could do."
Mason's two siblings Keira, 15, and Riley, nine, are both aware of why Mason and their mum are away from home, and Riley is desperate for them to come back. They were due to return home on Saturday December 10, but after Mason's temperature spiked on Thursday evening, he was kept at the RVI for observation.
Kerry continued: "Riley's worried about Mason but it's not just that, this is the longest I've not been home so he's concerned about the fact that we're not there. He's nine years old so it's hard for him to understand what's happening and a word like leukaemia doesn't mean a lot to him as he's not experienced anything related to cancer in his lifetime."
Mason's diagnosis has meant that Kerry has had to take sick leave from work, which is likely to be for at least the six-month entirety of Mason's intensive chemotherapy. Her friend Kerry Callister has set up a Go Fund Me to help with travel costs between Blennerhasset and Newcastle, especially with Kerry's income taking a hit - but she says she's been overwhelmed by the support she's received from the local community, her employer and Mason's school.
Kerry said: "The village we live in is quite a tight-knit community and we keep ourselves to ourselves because Mason's autism means he doesn't do well in social events. But the whole community have pulled together and the Go Fund Me has raised far more than we expected.
"But it's not just donations, with the cost of living, anybody who hasn't been able to donate has offered their support in other ways, they've offered to make home-cooked meals or to look after Keira and Riley so that Simon can get to the hospital, it's been completely overwhelming."
The pub in the village, the Grey Goat, held a Christmas event last week and donated the proceeds towards the family, despite the couple having never visited the pub in six years in the village. Kerry continued: "Everybody's doing so much for us and we really need to be giving back!"
Despite that, it's unlikely the family will be able to get involved in any community events anytime soon. Mason's chemotherapy means that his immune system will be compromised so he needs to be shielded from catching anything, as it could be serious. This has forced the family to change their Christmas plans, while Mason will also miss at least six months of school, which he started in September.
Kerry added: "Christmas is a major concern to be honest, the plan had been to go to my mam and dad's for Christmas Day as they only live down the road, but we're contemplating staying home now because we know we can control everything there - you can't control bugs in other people's houses. Mason's not allowed to socially interact with anyone outside of the home for the next six months and he can't go to school because he hasn't had chicken pox yet, and that could be serious if he caught it.
"His school has been fantastic though, the head teacher messages me every other day to see how he's doing, they're planning on putting together a few video messages from the kids in his class. They've been fantastic, there's hasn't been anyone that's disappointed since his diagnosis, everyone's been amazing."
If you would like to donate to the fundraiser for Mason's family, you can do so here.
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