Derry family speak of their inspiration after their little boy's three year cancer battle

A Derry mum whose little boy was diagnosed with leukemia as a toddler has shared his three year battle with the deadly blood cancer.

Nichola Hutcheon’s son Rory was just two years old when family got the devastating diagnosis in June 2013.

“We were supposed to be going on holiday, but Rory had been a bad colour for a week and I had given him iron supplements,” she recalled.

“He was full of energy and still eating. Although looking back now, he did have a couple of bruises.

“I took him for a blood test on the Monday morning and within a couple of hours we were down to the doctor again and he called Altnagelvin and told us to go over and I was thinking ‘I have suitcases to get packed’.

“I was sitting in Ward Six when two consultants and a Sister came in and they took my hand and told me he had leukemia and we had to get to Belfast as soon as possible

Nichola says the shock of Rory’s diagnosis is only hitting her now, almost four years later, because they were thrown straight into a grueling regime of chemotherapy.

The chemo drugs were given intravenously and Rory had a central line for a year and  half so they could be administered.

“Looking back at what happened, you don’t think about it at the time.

“You’re just getting through each day.

“It’s only now it is sinking in.”

Girls with leukemia must undergo two years and three months of treatment, but boys have to go through an extra year because the leukemia cells can ‘hide’ in the testes.

“The first year of treatment was very severe,” explained Nichola.

“They have to blast them with chemo to get them into remission.”

Rory’s immunity was so low during the chemotherapy that he had to be hospitalised every time his temperature spiked, which happened between 50 and 60 times.

The worst part of the treatment was the oral steroids that Rory had to take for seven days every four weeks.

“Life just didn’t exist for us then,” said Nichola.

“It was just me and him in a room.

“He couldn’t eat and couldn’t even walk.”

Nichola and her husband Shane had to make frequent trips to the Children’s Cancer Centre in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and relied on family and friends to help look after their other children Kiernan, Grace and Shane’s daughter Danielle.

Rory eventually received the all clear last August 21, but he will still be considered high risk until August of this year.

The six-year-old is now the “picture of health” and loves going to school at Sacred Heart PS.

“His Principal Brendan Bradley and teacher Mrs Cairns have been just brilliant,” continued Nichola.

“The school would always have alerted us if a child had chicken pox because we would have to take him out straight away.”

The Hutcheon family are now enjoying normal life with Rory and seeing his character emerge.

“We never really got to know his personality because he was always so sick.

“He was just too sick to be bold,” laughed Nichola.

Rory joined Top of The Hill Celtic football team earlier this week and loves playing Minecraft which helped him get through the many hours he spent in hospital.

He is now taking part in a trial for Cancer Research to help discover ways to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy and to stop the disease coming back.

The Hutcheon family has now decided to enter a team in the Cancer Research Race for Life Legenderry to celebrate his return to health.

“A few years ago we couldn’t even have thought about doing something like this,” said Nichola.

“It’s only now that Rory is better.

“We’re so grateful for the research that has been carried out.

“Around 30 years ago the survival rate of leukemia was just 20 per cent, but now it’s jumped to 90 per cent and that’s just in my life time.”

Nichola is relying on her colleagues at software development and maintenance company Allstate on the Northland Road to help her reach her fundraising target and will be hosting a series of coffee mornings in the coming weeks to help her reach it.

This is the first time Derry has ever hosted the relay for life, which is billed as the world’s largest fundraising event.

The event is being organised by the Legenderry Cancer Research UK Committee, who also organised the ‘Slide On’ weekends in Shipquay Street.

For more information on Legenderry Relay for life event log on to www.relay.cancerresearch.uk.org search Facebook for Legenderry Cancer Research UK or follow them on Twitter @legenderryrelay

You can also contact the organising committee on 07967998136.