Bens story… Hi Everyone I thought I had better update Bens page Ben is now 11 and has been given the All Clear which is fantastic news for all our family. Chemotherapy has left its mark Bens immune system has been damaged from all that chemo this has left him vulnerable to infections which could be life threatening for him, he has benign tumours inside two of his leg bones that cause him pain and his bones are thinning which they are hoping they will be able to treat.

Ben is still full of smiles and is very cheeky he is full of mischief and fun he is still a loving caring little boy he still loves his woody toy from toy story but his love now is WWE and his hero is John Cena

Ben is also loving his Caravan which he calls Bens Den we go there as often as we can and he never wants to come home we would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who donated it took us a while bet me and his daddy saved every penny we could and we put the rest to and bought him his Caravan so we can now take him away without worrying about him picking up infections from hotel rooms it is brilliant and has changed the quality of his life.

Ben is an amazing and courageous 7 year old little boy who was born Down Syndrome.

Just before his 2nd birthday Ben was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML cancer of the bone marrow) he had 6 months of intense Chemotherapy and is now in remission.

After 14 months Ben became ill again this time he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphblastic Leukaemia (ALL).

This is a rare illness. Ben is only the 2nd person known to have developed 'ALL' after 'AML'.

In 2008 Doctors decided Bens treatment would stop 1 year early.  Here is the reason why.

'ALL' treatment for girls is 2 years, for boys it is 3 years.

Doctors have found a percentage of Downs Syndrome boys have died in their 3rd year of treatment, 20% so Dr's have decided that the best treatment for Down Syndrome boys is 2 years with the hope that this is enough chemo to cure them.

Ben's chance of beating the ALL is now 50 to 55 %, his chance's have gone down as he has missed alot of his treatment as his little body could not cope with some of the drugs.

 

Fundraising

Over the past two years Ben`s story has touched the hearts of hundreds and Ben facebook page currently has 68000 members.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59665054012&ref=search#!/group.php?gid=45597095836&ref=ts

There has now been two events for Ben with a third coming up on the 19^th August, currently Wayne Lineker has raised just over £15,000 for Ben.

 

Hallam FM & Cash for Kids are now involved, stepping up the profile for Bens fundraising.

 

Where will the money go?

It will go into a fund for Ben and it will be used to give him the best possible chance of happiness.

Ben love's camping and it would be ideal if the family could afford to purchase a static caravan.

Unfortunately, Ben's condition makes it very difficult for him to be able to travel abroad and due to the high and ever present risk of infection to Ben the location would need to be within the safe vicinity of a hospital.

Any surplus money will be donated by his mum to a charity she endorses and that is close to her heart.

 xxx