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Charlie spent 4 months in hospital while undergoing a Bone Marrow Transplant in 2020. During that time he received excellent care, but the one thing that was missing was access to a physiotherapist.

George was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer called Ependymoma in 2016. He was just 11 months old at the time, and four years on he is still fighting.

For some paediatric cancer patients, life-saving treatment is literally in the hands of strangers, and in April 2018 when we received the news that Lochie’s treatment had not been as successful as hoped, this quickly became our reality. A small amount of cancer cells were still detected in his bone marrow which meant that he was likely going to need a transplant to replace defective bone marrow stem cells with healthy cells. We were told that the best donor match for bone marrow transplants are siblings with a 1 in 4 chance, but were crushed to find out that our other son Aidan (5 years old at the time) was not a match.

Sierra was like every other active kid, loved riding her bike, walking the dogs, camping, swimming, and gymnastics. All until a few weeks before she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. Treatment for this type of Leukaemia involves 2.5 years of multiple cocktails of chemotherapy and high dose steroids. In the first 4 weeks of her treatment we watched her fit and active body morph into what looked like a 38 week pregnant lady in the frame of a 5 year old.

In June 2020 just one month short of her second birthday, and after 3 trips to emergency with what I thought was a nasty virus, Chloé was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. My baby had cancer. My heart broke in 2 and I went into some sort of shock.

On the 20^th of October 2008 our 2 year old daughter, Kali, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. This is news you, as a parent, never want to hear. After the initial shock of it all and realisation that her treatment was going to mean long, gruelling hospital stays, over many months, I quickly turned my attention to a life long passion of mine, physical activity/exercise. How was I going to keep a little unwell toddler entertained and active over such a long length of time under such tough conditions?

The day I was told that our son has cancer is a day that will never be forgotten. For us, this day was Sunday 28th January 2018 at approximately 1pm. I remember the word “leukaemia” so clearly like it was only yesterday. It was that word said, almost 12 months ago that shattered the life we had previously known, never to be the same again.

We all inherently know that having meaningful personal relationships leads to us living much happier and more fulfilled lives, and I believe it is something that most of us do strive for on a daily basis – whether or not we succeed quite as often as that.