Patient Story – Jacob

Transferred to hospital for treatment

We were transferred to a specialist hospital and stayed for nearly two weeks. The first stage of treatment was tough and the steroids made him depressed and not want to do anything. He didn’t smile for weeks and it was really hard to see your child become a zombie. His muscles became weak and he had to learn to walk again.

Two years of maintenance chemo

This is to stop the leukaemia coming back. It lasted two and a half years. He got back to a relatively normal life, going to school full-time. And we were allowed to go on holiday. He had four hospital visits every 12 weeks, and weekly blood tests.

Better diagnosis for leukaemia

I would like to hope that our experience of not being taken seriously by the doctors won’t happen again. But it is all too common. Doctors need to be aware of all the symptoms of leukaemia, not just infections and bruising which Jacob didn’t have. Hopefully in the future there will be quicker diagnoses of childhood leukaemias!

(December 2016)

Treatments Side effects of treatments Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

February 2018

Jacob is now 16 months off treatment and has check-ups every three months. He is currently very healthy and the chance of relapse decreases all the time, but the worry is always there. Jacob is still doing really well at school and taking part in lots of football and hockey matches, and recently did a school cross-country race.

His physical strength has taken a long time to return but he does seem like any other ‘normal’ child now. He still talks about his treatment but really just wants to be like all his friends. We feel very lucky that he has got through his treatment without any major long term effects so far. Jacob (left) seen here with his brother, went to his first Chelsea football match towards the end of January, so he was very excited.