Zachary or “Beanie” as he’s known best, is a confident, kind, and joyful two year old. He is so full of spirit and humour, he never goes unnoticed and with the best of manners and thoughtfulness, he has been the light of his parents’ lives even before he was born. So wanted, so loved, truly a dream come true for them.

Unfortunately, the dream Cara and Moss were living came crashing down on 18th November 2019. They were led into a room to be told he has cancer. As you can imagine this is the kind of news that cripples the entire family, leaving them fearful for what lies ahead.

11 days into their living nightmare (and 3 years to the day since their second pregnancy loss of that year), they were told the full extent of the situation. Their beautiful Beanie has a rare, highly aggressive and advanced form of cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. Unfortunately, due to this being such a rare form of childhood cancer (with only around 70 children in the UK diagnosed each year), it is very hard to treat and the options available for treatment haven’t changed much in two decades.

Nothing can prepare parents for that news; so extreme, so unbelievable that the words feel like physical blows. The question they asked themselves over and over was ‘How could we not have known?’ The truth is this type of disease is often silent, working it's way around the body, only showing itself once the damage is done.

Research is desperately needed to help doctors better understand this disease. Currently due to the ”rarity” of childhood cancer, funds to enable research into them are very limited in comparison to other forms of cancer. So why are we allowing those with their entire lives ahead of them so little help in their battle to survive? With Cara, Moss and Beanie living in the Paediatric Oncology Unit it has become clear that ‘rare’ means nothing with the number of children seen on a daily basis. Of course, it’s only ‘rare’ until it happens to you. And if it can happen to them (over cautious, organic homemade baby food prepper's) it can happen to anyone.

What Cara and Moss have witnessed over the last couple of months has been utterly soul-destroying. Aside from the effects of Beanies illness, the pain and trauma he is facing from the aggressive drugs he has to take causes unbelievable nausea, pains in the limbs, mobility issues, heavy bleeding, sores and pain from the mouth and throughout, invasive and traumatic procedures and physical changes such as hair and weight loss.

As parents, to stand by helplessly watching the most important person in your life get ravaged by this illness is beyond unbearable. But the strength Beanie is showing, and his unbreakable determination to play and enjoy each day with the ones he loves is incredible.

We are hoping to raise as much money as possible and by donating, however big or small, you will be helping ease the financial burden for the family so that they can be present with Beanie and face this fight head on. Any money raised will also go towards further treatment options that present themselves to Beanie and his family.

So please, give what you can and stand shoulder to shoulder with Beanie as he is reluctantly led into the biggest battle of his life.

Any money not used by the family will be donated towards preventative research into Rhabdomyosarcoma at the University of Birmingham (The University of Birmingham is an Exempt Charity, No. X7237)