Oliver's family shared devastating news that their brave, beautiful boy passed away on 16th November.
"On Saturday we kissed our brave beautiful boy goodbye as his suffering came to an end peacefully at home with us and surrounded by his family. Our hearts are broken our words are few, but we wanted to let you know hes now at peace.
Once again our biggest thanks to everyone who raised huge amounts of money and awareness for Oliver, it wasnt enough to save him, all the money in the world couldnt but your acts of love and kindness will never be forgotten by us and our family. Thank you x"
Towards the end of 2015, Oliver began to feel unwell and started complaining his knees were hurting. During December he also developed severe tummy pain and visited his GP on several occasions. On New Years Eve, he was so unwell that he had to go to the hospital.
The next few days were full of blood tests and investigations. The family were transferred to Southampton General Hospital where they were given the devastating news that Oliver had stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma - the cancer had spread from his abdominal tumour into his bone and bone marrow.
"It was unbearable news that no-one ever imagines hearing about their son or daughter. We felt numb, disbelieving and had an overwhelming sense of fear over what the future held, plus the possibility that we could lose our little boy", says mum Jo.
Oliver embarked on a gruelling 18-month treatment plan which began with ten rounds of intensive chemotherapy and an 8-hour surgery to remove the tumour. Oliver then had his stem cells harvested before undergoing high dose chemotherapy, after which he spent a number of weeks in isolation as he was so vulnerable to infection.
One risk of high dose chemotherapy is a condition called Venous Occlusive Disease (VOD), which can be fatal.
"Oliver did develop VOD and became incredibly unwell. One of the drugs given to help treat VOD also caused him to develop internal bleeding and he ended up spending over three months in hospital with several periods of time in intensive care and high dependency units", says Jo.
By the end of October 2016 and after three weeks of radiotherapy - scans showed Oliver to be completely free of the disease. As a result, he was included on an immunotherapy trial for five months and in May 2017 he was given the all clear!
Oliver started school in September 2017 and Jo says: He was a little nervous at first, having had very little time at preschool, but by November was starting to settle in and gain confidence. Sadly, it was all about to change though.
In December 2017 Oliver began to feel unwell again and in the New Year, one of the glands in his neck became very enlarged.
"We were naturally concerned about his symptoms and took him to see his Oncology Consultant in Southampton. On 24th January it was confirmed that Oliver had suffered a relapse. It was heartbreaking to think our little boy would have to, again, endure the horrors of cancer, the treatment it entails and all the dreadful side effects", says Jo.
Oliver responded very well to 11 months of chemotherapy but with some disease left in his bone marrow, his family and clinician identified immunotherapy treatment (Hu3f8) in Barcelona as the best option to clear the remaining disease. Thanks to your amazing support in raising £203,000, Oliver had this treatment successfully in early 2019.
"The antibody is far less toxic than chemotherapy and has no long-term side effects, which has been a significant concern to us throughout Oliver's treatment. We also understood the antibody would help to prepare Oliver's immune system for a vaccine that we now hope to access", say Jo and Matthew.
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