Rallying For Ruben

In October, happy, spirited, beautiful Ruben celebrated his 3rd Birthday. He was getting ready to start nursery after the Christmas break and was growing like a weed.

Just a week later however, the 'growing pains' in his legs became so painful his Mum, Hayley and Dad, Stuart had to take him to the Victoria Hospital in Kirckaldy. In the space of a few short hours, their whole world was turned upside down.

Ruben was diagnosed with Leukaemia. He has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).

The good news is that this is the most treatable type of Leukaemia and Ruben is a little fighter.

However, the road is long, with treatment taking 3 years and in true Ruben style, he's taking the harder route!

The initial phase of chemo wasn't as effective as the oncologists would have liked, so for stage 2 he is on a really tough course.

He currently gets 4 different types of chemo. Some are delivered through a port that has been fitted in his chest, some through a lumbar puncture under anaesthetic, some through a huge needle directly into his hip bone and some Hayley has to administer herself at home.

Ruben also has a machine that delivers feeds through his NG tube at night and a whole host of other drugs to control nausea and to help protect his body from other side effects.

Ruben's treatment means that he will be left with no immune system and will have to have all of his childhood vaccinations again. He has already had shingles and stays in hospital for other infections, which mean overnighting for weeks at a time at Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital.

With Ruben's brother Rory at home, it's been incredibly painful dividing the family. Hayley has missed Rorys 8th birthday and Mothers Day with her first born as a result.

They say it costs an average of an extra £600 a month to have a child go through treatment. This amounts to £21,600 over the 3 years.

Stuart was made redundant from his chef job due to covid. He has been lucky to have found a job that means he can work before hospital runs, but the hours are reduced and so the income low.

Add to this, the cost of fuel today and also the distance from Largoward to Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital. The commute is long and expensive. I'm sure the figures will be even greater for this little family.

The reason for this Fundraiser is to help ease the burden. Financial strain is hard on all of us and can impact our mental health at the best of times. To be worrying if you can afford to put fuel in the car to take your small child to a chemo appointment is unimaginable.

I have felt so useless watching from the sidelines, so if I can bring the community together, to help in some way then it will be an absolute pleasure to have done so.

Thank you all so much for your support.