Childhood Leukaemia

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) is the most common cancer diagnosed in young children, affecting up to 500 children every year in the UK. Over the last 20 years great advances have been made in the treatment of childhood ALL and roughly 4 out of 5 are cured. T-cell ALL accounts for approximately 10% of all childhood ALL diagnoses.

Children diagnosed with ALL are treated at a specialist Paediatric Oncology Centre, which may be many miles from their home. We were fortunate that we live very near Great Ormond Street. Their local district hospital, in our case, The Whittington, manages the side effects and frequent hospital stays due to infections.

When not in hospital, children spend their time at home in semi-isolation to minimise the risks of infection. Blood tests are taken weekly by community nurses who visit the home.

As a family we were very fortunate to be looked after by great teams at Great Ormond Street, The Whittington Paediatric Team and the St Pancreas community nursing team. All of whom went out of their way to assist us as a family in managing this horrible disease. We can’t thank them enough for all the help and support we received.