Jamie’s story
2022-02-15
When Jamie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2019, his world changed drastically.
As a two-year-old country boy, Jamie enjoyed a full, yet simple life on the family’s small 40-acre farm at Marradong near Boddington in Western Australia. Jamie's mum, Nicky, says:
Jamie enjoyed running around on the farm with the horses and cows, feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs every day, plus bottle feeding his little lamb Coco.
He loved playing in the sandpit with his digger and trucks. Life was free-flowing, with his Nanny, Poppy and Aunty living on the farm across the road.
A life-changing diagnosis
When Jamie started to experience high temperatures, a loss of appetite and a sore tummy, Nicky and her husband Les took him to the doctor. They received crushing news. Nicky continues:
Finding out your child has cancer is one of the hardest things any parent will ever hear.
Life changes in that moment. You drop everything and become 100 percent focused on your child and knowing what the “fix” is to make them get rid of this horrible disease that’s trying to kill them.
That September, Nicky and Jamie headed to Perth so the toddler could start treatment which included myriad general anaesthetics every week for invasive procedures as well as chemotherapy drugs.
Along with the financial stress of relocating to the city, was the toll of watching the little boy go through countless tough medical procedures.
Support at home
Following the last round of surgery, Jamie was given the okay to head back to his beloved animals and continue treatment at home. This year, Jamie turns five but he’s not out of the woods yet.
For Jamie to be back home on the farm with all his animals running around, playing in the dirt, jumping in mud puddles - you can't put a price on that...He's still getting there but he can enjoy a bit of life.
Holding your child down screaming and looking at you to rescue them from agony is so heart-breaking, I can’t begin to describe it.
- Nicky, Jamie's mum
There were 12 months where we didn't even touch grass because Jamie couldn't go to parks. It's those little things that you don't realise that you miss when you're put in that situation.
- Nicky, Jamie's mum
A big thank you
The next year will be difficult for Jamie while he continues his treatment and makes up for lost time. The young boy’s next biggest goal is chatting to his family.
Jamie is very busy with his words and is coming out with some very cute phrases like “great to see you again”. He is such a little character keeping me on my toes.
And of course, Jamie has been busy playing with all The Kids’ Cancer Project bears he received while in hospital.
Nicky says between his teddy collection from The Kids’ Cancer Project and the amazing work being done in cancer research they are hopeful for the future.
He still has some very bad days and he’s not out of the woods just yet. Thank you everyone for your ongoing support, it is appreciated so very much.
- Nicky, Jamie's mum