Carey's Friends

A few days later, they told us that we were going to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London, for a bone marrow aspiration. We were blue-lighted there and, after more tests, we were given the diagnosis of JMML. It’s impossible to describe how we felt when we heard, or how we’ve felt every moment since. Nothing prepares you for hearing the words “oncology” and “cancer”, and it’s incredibly difficult to even begin to make sense of it.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.

We’re being looked after by an incredible medical team at the Royal Alexandra (Alex) in Brighton and GOSH. Carey has undergone monthly chemotherapy however the only curative treatment for JMML is a bone marrow transplant. Our family was split for 7 weeks whilst Carey underwent his gruelling treatment at GOSH and his sister, Aubrey, who was also his donor, stayed in Brighton with grandparents. He is currently in remission but having monthly investigations to make sure he is still cancer free.

Since Carey’s diagnosis, we’ve been inundated with people asking if they can help fundraise and we would like to contribute to research into JMML, as so little is known about it. We’re so grateful to all our friends and family who have asked what they can do to support us, and we’re very keen for people’s goodwill to be used to help other children and families in our situation.

It is something so awful, but we hope that something positive can come out of it.

It's very, very important to us to set this fund up and be able to put the funds specifically towards research into JMML, as it’s so desperately needed. We need to know why children with JMML relapse and how we stop this happening. What’s more, we want children with JMML to one day be able to be cured without the need for a bone marrow transplant and splitting up families, like ours, for months at a time in the process. If we can help contribute to research like this, and if another family can benefit from research that we’ve funded in the years ahead, then that would mean so much.

Please help us raise some money for the ongoing research into JMML. Research into childhood cancers is very badly funded and more work is urgently needed to give kids like Carey the best possible outcomes. We would like to help children and families like ours to find better and kinder treatments for these heroic children.

We can help to make that happen. We’ve called the fund ‘Carey’s Friends’ because, along with all the other little children with JMML, that’s what you are. Whether fundraising, donating or helping us spread the word, you’re all Carey’s friends. For Carey and for other babies and children who are suffering, we hope you will join us.