They say everything can change in a blink of an eye....

This moment arose for us on the 28th December 2018, the day we received the most unimaginable news which changed our lives forever. We were truly devastated to be told Oscar had T- cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia as he was admitted to Birmingham Children's Hospital straight away following an abnormal blood test.

Since then Oscar has followed a rigorous protocol of intense chemotherapy in order to terminate the leukemia blasts in his blood. However, after four weeks of induction treatment we received even more heartbreaking news that Oscar will need a stem cell transplant as the leukemia he had was too aggressive to treat with only chemotherapy.

This was not meant to be happening to our baby! He had always been such a healthy happy boy! At this time in our lives we felt lost. We were scared of the unknown, scared that he may never pull through such intrusive treatment. But he proved his might! 4 months after what seemed the most gruelling time of our lives he was on the other side, regaining strength and readying himself for life outside of hospital! He was a healthy boy again.... or so we thought!

Just weeks later as Oscar was preparing to be discharged after 9 whole months of being restricted and isolated, there was somewhat the hardest blow waiting to turn our world upside down once again.

The monstrous disease was detected, Oscar had relapsed!

We broke completely. We shed tear after tear. We fell into each others arms; damaged and inconsolable. We felt like we could not see light at the end of the tunnel, but when looking at Oscar's cheeky smile, bravery and determination we managed to pull all of our strength together again. From that moment of fear and confusion, we as a family became stronger than ever! Oscar reminded us how to fight again and that we continue to do.

We have chased consultants nationally and internationally. Never will we give up hope in finding Oscar’s cure. As the days have drawn darker we have managed to find a treatment option outside of the NHS that will cost over 500 thousand pounds. After only 3 weeks of fundraising we hit this extortionate target! The support was extraordinary and still is! Oscar’s army doesn’t stop for anything!

We now await further results before the medics can agree on next steps. In the meantime we want to ensure Oscar enjoys that little bit of freedom he has so longed for. His cancer may be back but he won’t let it stop him being the boy he wants to be ❤️

These funds will enable us as a family to enjoy quality time together without the financial worry and stress. It will provide us with the income we no longer have since becoming full time carers. If we are to travel abroad for treatment in the near future this will also aid the massive expense that we may face.

We will do our absolute best in updating oscar‘s page and his social media pages ‘Hand in hand for Oscar‘ along the way.

Thank you all, with love the Saxelby-Lee family x

Written by Mum - Olivia Saxelby.