Search
Close this search box.

Support For You

Liam’s Story

This is the story of how Liam won the fight against Non – Hodgkin Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma! As parents whose child has just been diagnosed with cancer, we grabbed on every single word or story that gives us hope and belief…hopefully Liam’s story will give that to you!

1st Signs

End January 2012 Liam had 3 mosquito bites on his face…2 on his forehead and one on his chin. 2 weeks after that the 2 on his forehead disappeared but the ones on his chin didn’t disappear. We had to take Liam for a general check-up at the pediatrician and asked her whether we should be concerned.

1st Operation

The general surgeon had to drain the ‘infection’ or ‘abscess’. After the operation the surgeon told us that there were actually nothing that came out of the wound, which should have triggered further queries. We were told that we should leave it for 10 days for it to heal. Within a couple of days the growth grew bigger on a daily basis, until we couldn’t wait any longer. At this point the diagnosis was that the growth was a ‘granular…something’

The second operation went as planned…accept that a different surgeon. Again Liam was still diagnosed with ‘granular…something’. …nothing to be worried about. Right after that phone call we were pretty relieved, and made an appointment with the plastic surgeon for Monday morning.

Friday afternoon, after an urgent phone call from the doctor we were told that Liam has 'Lymphoma’…We were shocked.

It was the worst weekend for Belinda and me…Liam went for his first haircut on Saturday…Liam’s grandparents (from both sides) were there to support us…I don’t know what we would have done without their support!!! At this stage we weren’t sure what type of Lymphoma it was or what stage.

The first good news we received was that afternoon…when Dr Omar told us that the bone marrow and blood was clean…and he diagnosed Liam with a stage 2 Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. One would never think that news like that can be good…it was good news for Belinda and me! This meant that the survival rate was higher…funny how one gets excited talking about a ‘higher survival rate’…

The treatment schedule have been arranged…now the only thing that we were waiting for was the final results on the lymph…which will give a good indication whether the cancer have spread into Liam’s lymph area around his neck…what a long wait…Thursday (the day before Good Friday), we got even better news…we caught it in time…the lymph was clean!!!

We started to believe again…and when all our friends and family prayed and blessed Liam…not only friends and family…even people that we haven’t met…it’s an amazing feeling to realize that there are so many amazing people in this life which won’t even think twice to send positive prayers and thoughts to someone that means something in their lives.

Liam handled the first session of chemo very well…The other thing that made the doctor…and us, very happy was that the external lymph node tumour was half the size already. We could actually see the shrinkage on a daily basis. That made all of us comfortable that we are using the correct treatment schedule, with the correct diagnosis.

We were hopeful after the first week of chemo…Liam seemed ok. Just don’t forget the nausea medications. It also helped tremendously when we go to go home for awhile — that meant Liam didn’t have to have the steal trolley chasing him with the bags of fluid. I must admit – he enjoys the ward – there are nurses that pay a lot of attention…which adores him…he is so cute at the moment; it’s a pity he cannot see his friends and family! it’s so strange, earlier on I thought we would take it day by day – its actually hour by hour within each day…there are times when he is his old self, running around and wants to wrestle his mother and me…but then there is time that he sobs softly…which is worse then crying…and we are not sure what it is…we think its nausea.

When Liam started eating and drinking less and his cough got worse we worried about everything. The last thing we wanted was for the cough to go viral and onto his chest. However, we knew if we were worried about anything at all, we needed to take him to the hospital. The rule was be safe rather than sorry.

When Liam feels bad, he wants his mommy, and definitely not his daddy…it makes me sad that he pushes me away, but glad that he wants his mommy though…but I’m still his play buddy though…well, at least I think so. He is really sweet though.

To summarise after the first 3 cycles of chemo:

  1. If Liam had a fever, we took him straight to hospital
  2. If Liam’s white blood cells were very low, he would have an injection to increase them back to normal
  3. Liam received antibiotics due to a viral infection
  4. Liam was on oxygen for one night
  5. Liam had a blood transfusion to get his blood pressure stable

Fourth chemo session

Some key notes for this session include:
  • This chemo hit Liam hard…due to various reasons:
    • Tummy bug – in isolation due to the bug
    • His body is not as strong as in the beginning
  • You can try to see a pattern on his reaction to the various chemo medication, but don’t be surprised to be proved wrong
  • Teething doesn’t help the cause at all – it makes it so much more difficult to treat the symptoms
  • There is light at the end of the tunnel…over half way!

We are now at number 5 for chemo and only one to go after this.

As usual, a couple of points for this session:
  • Never relax…as if parents would!
  • Teething doesn’t help
  • Be sure that the mouth ulcers will come while teething (no matter what you do as preventative measures)
  • Constipation is part of the deal — and hurts like crazy from Liam’s reaction
  • Follow your instinct as parents – you know when something is not right
  • Be prepared – there’s going to be a lot of medication (antibiotics, neupogen, prafulgen, volaron , Calpol, Prospan, Duphalac
  • Be strong…because it can get worse at any time!!!
  • There’s nothing stronger than a bond between a mother and her child – the love and strength of Belinda makes Liam so much stronger!

It’s been one of the toughest 2 weeks of my life. I won’t wish this on my worst enemies! One thing that became clear however, that Liam is a fighter…someone to look up to!

Support and information

Sign up to newsletter

Share This

Newsletter Sign Up

Contact Lymphoma Australia Today!

Please note: Lymphoma Australia staff are only able to reply to emails sent in English language.

For people living in Australia, we can offer a phone translation service. Have your nurse or English speaking relative call us to arrange this.