Calum is a bright eyed boy who loves to play and make other people laugh with silly voices, funny faces and mischievous games. He is incredibly loving and affectionate. Calum loves cuddles and saying “I love you,” to all his family. Calum has recently been promoted to big brother to Emily who is 5 months who he absolutely adores. Calum has the brightest smile that hasn’t faded even through this horrible time he now faces.

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Calum caught chickenpox at the start of January and didn’t seem to get better after they had cleared up. He began to complain of a sore body and at times would refuse to walk. We went to our local GP who thought he had Post-herpetic Neuralgia , a side effect most common with shingles. As time passed , Calum didn’t get any better and new symptoms arose. We became increasingly worried and after our third visit to the GP we were referred to our local hospital. The doctors suspected a spinal infection and conducted an MRI scan to locate the infection. Unfortunately, we received news that tore our hearts apart.

Calum’s MRI scan showed he has a tumour above his adrenal gland which had spread throughout his full body with widespread bone marrow and bone involvement. We were immediately transferred to Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children where they conducted further tests to diagnose Calum’s cancer.

Calum was diagnosed with stageM high-risk Neuroblastoma. This is a rare and aggressive cancer with a poor survival rate due to it being highly likely to return.

Calum’s treatment is now underway and he is currently undergoing gruelling induction chemotherapy. He has taken everything so far in his stride without any complaints and with a smile on his face. His chemo has already relieved his pain and he is back to being the boy we know, the fun, bouncing boy who is full of love and laughter. Calum still has surgery, high dose chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy to endure to get better. Unfortunately, even after this intensive treatment, it is likely the cancer will return. If it was to return, Calum’s chance of survival would severely decrease.

A new vaccination is in trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. This centre specialises in Neuroblastoma and is world-leading in developing immunotherapies against Neuroblastoma. The vaccine hopes to trains the immune system to identify and destroy neuroblastoma cells. It aims to reduce the chance of relapse and increase the chance of survival. The vaccine isn’t available here in the UK so we hope to fundraise to be able to take Calum to New York for this treatment. It would involve Calum making the journey to New York multiple times throughout the year.

We hope to raise this money to give Calum the chance he deserves to survive this dreadful cancer. Any funds that are raised which aren’t used towards treatment for Calum will be donated to fund Neuroblastoma research.

Thank you for your thoughts and your kind words for our brave superstar.