Teddy's story
Teddy was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma in April 2018 when he was 16 months old. Emma, Teddy’s mum shares their story.
“All I wanted for Christmas was for my baby to be well again.”
“When people asked me what I wanted for Christmas that year, the only thing I could think of was for my baby to be well again. For him to be cured. In the run up to Christmas 2019, we were travelling back and forth to New York for Teddy’s vaccinations.
“We didn’t think he’d make it to his second birthday but Teddy turns four just before Christmas and is healthy, happy and raring to explore our new home. We are very much looking forward to spending this Christmas in our new home town, going for walks on the beach and spending lots of time together as a family.”
A devastating diagnosis…
“...we were told Teddy had high-risk neuroblastoma. We were devastated. He was given a one in three chance of surviving his cancer diagnosis. ”
Teddy during his treatment a.k.a Super Ted
“In March 2018, Teddy stopped crawling and became very clingy. He had a high temperature for ten days and was diagnosed with an ear infection and a virus. Then in April 2018, doctors found a large tumour in his stomach.
“They initially thought he had Wilms tumour and Teddy needed more biopsies before a diagnosis was confirmed. Two weeks later, we were told Teddy had high-risk neuroblastoma. We were devastated. He was given a one in three chance of surviving his cancer diagnosis.
“He needed chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and stem cell harvests. During his first few weeks of treatment, Teddy was very very ill. He wasn’t eating, was being sick and had difficulty putting on weight. His lungs kept filling with fluid and he was admitted to intensive care to have them drained. We thought he was going to die. He was so skinny that we could actually see his tumour shrinking.
“But he handled it all really well and we tried to keep things as jolly as possible for him during treatment. We travelled to Barcelona for immunotherapy and to New York for vaccinations. It’s been a long journey.
…but Teddy has incredible resilience
“We realise we are the lucky ones and we could have easily been here today with one child rather than two. ”
Teddy on the beach
“The painful memories of Teddy’s treatment aren’t there every day, but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened. Even if it’s just watching him running around on the beach as if nothing happened, and thinking how utterly wonderful that is.
“Thankfully Teddy has avoided many of the side-effects of his neuroblastoma treatment, but his physical development was a little slow. He didn’t start properly walking until just before his second birthday and he can’t run as fast as some of his friends in the playground. But he learnt to speak from quite a young age, probably because he was around so many adults whilst having treatment and he is really confident now.
“If we can take one positive from everything he’s been through, it’s his incredible resilience. He walked into pre-school as if he’d been there his whole life and has settled into our new home really well.
“We realise we are the lucky ones and we could have easily been here today with one child rather than two. The realities of childhood cancer are burdens my heart will carry forever. We need more money to go into researching safer, gentler and more effective treatment for children with cancer. Because we need more children like Teddy to survive.”
Give a child like Teddy the gift of a brighter future this Christmas
Emma and Teddy are supporting our Christmas fundraising appeal to help give children with neuroblastoma a #BrighterFuture. The money raised will help scientists develop new, more effective and kinder treatment for children like Teddy.
To help give a child with neuroblastoma a #BrighterFuture, and save more young lives, please donate today. Thank you.