This is Adam and Leila.

Adam is 13 years old.

In December 2017, Adam was diagnosed with metastatic Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer which mainly affects children. His treatment will involve many months of chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy, surgery and physiotherapy.

Most of December (including Christmas and New Year) was spent in and out of the Children's Hospital in Oxford undergoing a barrage of procedures before he could commence chemotherapy at the beginning of January.

On the 11th January, after Adam's first round of chemo, he felt well enough to go to school for a few hours which was a huge relief and a welcome change of scenery; a sense of normality returned, he was learning, he was seeing friends, he was getting on with life.

Unfortunately the following day Adam's femur, weakened by the tumour, spontaneously fractured under his body weight. This was a massive set back and Adam spent the following 3 weeks in a traction bed in hospital while still enduring chemotherapy.

Rather than fix his leg, the doctors decided that he should continue with his chemotherapy treatment to give him the best chance of success. Over the next 7 months Adam underwent 14 cycles of chemotherapy, 38 sessions of radiotherapy and limb-sparing surgery to replace his hip and femur with a metal prosthesis. Following surgery Adam will require many months of physiotherapy to enable him to be able to walk again and hopefully to regain full mobility.

Throughout this, Adam's good humour has never faltered, and he has continued to light up the room with his big beaming smile, positivity and thumbs up!

The pressure on Adam's family has been immense. The coordination of work, staying with Adam at the hospital, spending the time they need to with Adam’s younger sister, grabbing what hours they can as a family of four is exhausting and stressful. The time they can enjoy together as a normal family has become more precious and they are all determined to make the most of the free time they have while Adam is home from hospital.

Your funds will continue to support Adam and his family with expenses and treatment Adam may need in the future.