Henry's Story
Like most families, we never thought that our lives would be affected by childhood cancer. Until it was.
In 2022, our cheeky and adventurous two year old son Henry was diagnosed with brain cancer. In a moment, our entire lives were turned upside down. Henry was transferred from our local hospital on the Gold Coast to our states children's hospital in Brisbane.
We were grateful to hear upon arriving in Brisbane that Henry's tumour was operable and two days later it was successfully removed. However, such a delicate surgery comes with many possible outcomes and in Henry's case, he woke from his surgery completely unable to move his body, talk or eat.
We spent the following two months in hospital cheering him on as he started to regain some of these abilities.
Two months after Henry was diagnosed he began treatment including , chemotherapy and radiation.
Henry's radiation treatment was for 28 rounds over 6 weeks and Henry had to have a general anaesthetic for every single session.
Henry so bravely endured all of these treatments all while adapting to the physical side effects he had from surgery.
Devastatingly, in the 8 months after Henry completed his treatment, the side effects that he suffered were too much for his little body and in November 2023, Henry passed away.
The Children's Cancer Institute believes that a life should be long and we wholeheartedly agree.
Many advancements have been made in the field of childhood cancer but with three Australian children dying every single week, and those that survive, suffering life long side effects, we can all agree that there is still so much more work to be done.
Please join us in supporting this pursuit for a cure for childhood cancer -its not if, its when.
Wishing so much that you were here to celebrate Christmas with us . Nanny misses you more than words can say. Merry Christmas beautiful Henry , Nanny loves you forever and always. Xxxx