Archie's Army is a Special Named Fund at CCLG raising money for research into Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
Archie was 4 years old when he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. His mum, Alexandra shares his story…
Archie was the picture of health before his diagnosis with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in April 2022, just after his fourth birthday. He was happy, confident, energetic and passionate about the natural world. He loved going to nursery and running around with the animals on our hobby farm. He was the last child anyone would expect to have cancer.
One weekend Archie became very tired and had a temperature, then he developed a non-blanching rash. I took him to hospital to check it was not meningitis. It wasn’t…but it was leukaemia. Archie was transferred to Southampton University Hospital, where he began an intense programme of chemotherapy lasting three and a half years.
Archie and I lived in the hospital while he underwent the initial, incredibly brutal phase of treatment.
Watching what the treatment did to Archie’s little body was heartbreaking. Within weeks, he was unrecognisable. He lost his hair, of course, but I could never have imagined what the weight gain from the steroids and fluid retention would be like. The initial treatment didn’t go smoothly and we had some nasty scares, which lengthened our hospital stay.
Archie endured 1168 days of treatment, over 300 blood tests, 30 general anaesthetics and 20 lumbar punctures. He got through procedures he found terrifying by whispering “Be brave, Archie” and telling himself that God would not put him through something he couldn’t handle.
He took it all with amazing courage, resilience and good humour. He used his hospital time to watch nature documentaries by his heroes, Sir David Attenborough and Steve Backshall.
Archie has always been a very kind boy who genuinely cares about others.
One night in hospital when he was violently ill from chemo, Archie said to me “I am so sorry you’re having to go through this, Mummy.” At age four and suffering more than most people ever will, he was worried about my wellbeing. All I could think was, he has to survive this because he is such a special person and the world needs more people like him. And that is what I would say in my frequent, desperate prayers – 'God, please let him live because I know he will make a wonderful contribution to this world'.
And now, having completed treatment, Archie wants to make a difference by improving treatment for other children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. Despite being the most common childhood cancer, modern protocols still rely on gruelling regimes of conventional chemotherapy that cause severe, long-term harm to growing bodies. Archie would like to see more tailored treatments that reduce toxicity and late effects, and that is the aim of Archie’s Army: to fund research into kinder treatments for children with ALL.
During treatment, Archie made a video to help other newly diagnosed children understand what leukaemia is and what to expect from treatment. He identified that it would have been helpful for him to have more child-friendly information at the start of his leukaemia journey, and he wanted to provide that for others. You can watch it here.
Make a donation to Archie's Army
.
Open an online fundraising page for Achie's Army
Set up a regular Direct Debit donation for Archie's Army
Research projects funded
Fundraising pages
Text CCLGARCHIE to 70085 to donate £5.
CCLG will receive 100% of your donation. You may also be charged for one text message at your network’s standard or charity rate.
You can make a donation or pay in funds raised by cheque, payable to CCLG, to CCLG, Century House, 24 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GB. Please ensure you make it clear that the donation is for Archie's Army so that your donation is allocated to the correct fund.