Mum’s ‘whole devastation’ as her child son dies from leukaemia

A household has spoken of its “total devastation” after the loss of life of a beloved son on the age of solely 14 months.

After a tough being pregnant, during which mother and father Callan and James had been warned that their child would possibly have to be delivered early, Henry Brett was born full-term and wholesome in April 2020.

The household, from Ipswich, rapidly settled into their life collectively, with Henry’s older brother Theodore, aged 4, doting on the brand new addition.

Callan stated: “Henry adored Theodore, and Theodore adored him. They would laugh and play all the time.”

But when Henry was simply 5 months outdated he started crying commonly and displaying a fever, with just a few small lumps showing on his head.

Callan took Henry to A&E alongside along with his grandmother Sally, a nurse with 35 years’ expertise, who advised the hospital that they might not be leaving till Henry had been given a blood check.

It was this check that exposed the devastating fact that Henry had acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive type of blood cancer.

“The only way I can describe it is total devastation,” Callan recalled.

“All I could feel was sheer panic. Later, I felt such guilt as well. If he’d been my first child, I might have worried sooner, but because he was my second – and because he was such a happy baby – I was more relaxed. I just felt so guilty.”

Henry was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Children’s Hospital in Cambridge that very same evening, with a Hickman line to manage chemotherapy fitted within the early hours. He would go on to spend months in hospital enduring 4 rounds of brutal chemotherapy.

Due to Covid restrictions, Callan and James had been solely allowed to be with Henry individually.

Callan stated: “The risk of infection was so huge that we only managed to all be together three times, from the moment Henry was diagnosed until the day he died. Christmas 2020 was one of the last times. We were able to bring Henry home and Theodore was so excited, sharing everything with him.

“Henry sat on his Grandad’s lap and ate chocolate biscuits most of the day! His aunty would carry him around any chance she could. Everyone just doted on him.’

On Boxing Day, however, Henry was “a completely different child” showing very unwell. He was then taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

In May 2021, Henry took a flip for the more severe. “He was intubated to keep him breathing,” stated Callan.

“His little body was just covered in wires. They took him for an emergency CT scan and we couldn’t go with him.

“Then they moved us all to PICU and I lay in bed with him that night, where he had a seizure. His brain was full of abscesses and he was in pain. He developed a rash that eventually joined up all over his body and his skin began to peel.

“Towards the end, he had diarrhoea and started vomiting blood. It was brutal. And it was so unfair. There was nothing more that they could do.”

Callan and James determined to carry Henry again house to see Theodore one final time.

“He stayed alive for 56 hours,” stated Callan. “It was the longest weekend of my life. I can barely remember it. I didn’t sleep – I just wanted to look at him. Theodore came in and spoke to him about Minecraft. Then he just let go.”

Six months after Henry’s loss of life, Callan retrained as a healthcare assistant hoping to assist assist different households coping with sickness.

She can be sharing Henry’s story in assist of a brand new venture arrange by Leukaemia UK and Worldwide Cancer Research to create kinder and simpler remedies for toddler leukaemia.

Research lead Professor Katrin Ottersbach, from the University of Edinburgh, defined: “The treatment of infant leukaemia has not improved for decades,”

“This research will allow us to investigate what makes blood cancer in infants unique, and how we can treat it more efficiently.”

Callan added: “My baby cannot have died for no reason. His death has to mean something. If I have to live the entire rest of my life without him, then there has to be progress in that time.

“We cannot have lost him for no reason, and we cannot stand by knowing that more research could spare another family from his type of heartbreak.”

Common signs of acute myeloid leukaemia embody:

• Looking pale or “washed out”
• Feeling drained or weak
• Breathlessness
• Frequent infections
• Unusual and frequent bruising or bleeding, reminiscent of bleeding gums or nosebleeds
• Losing weight with out making an attempt to.