Henry was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) on January 9th 2016 when he had just turned 7. Within 48 hours his whole life had been turned upside down and an ambulance ride to Addenbrookes confirmed his diagnosis with intensive chemotherapy treatment starting immediately. The first 6 months of treatment threw relentless physical and psychological challenges at Henry with hideous side effects from chemo and steroids which caused a lot of pain, weight gain, anger and restricted mobility. Hen is now 2 years into 3 years of 'maintenance' treatment which for boys with ALL means 3 years of daily chemo, weekly antibiotics and blood tests, monthly check ups, 3 monthly chemo under sedation and emergency stays in hospital if Hen's temperature goes over 38c. Henry has to be within 90 minutes drive of a UK hospital at any time for the duration of the 3 years.

When Hen's treatment finishes on 9th March 2019 he will still need to take antibiotics for another 6 months and will need monthly check ups but hopefully he will be able to rebuild his strength and start to live a normal life and catch up with his childhood. We really want to be able to raise money to make sure that Henry has an awesome summer seeing friends and visiting places which have been restricted for so long. Caring for a sick child has a big psychological impact on parents and family but also affects day to day work and finances and without some help we won't be able to give Henry the end of treatment adventure that we think he deserves.

Along what has felt like an Odyssey through a strange world we have met many other children with cancer all dealing with intensive treatments with traumatic side effects. Some of these cancers can be cured, some can't and some are managed but require even longer treatment with possible relapse. That is why we are fundraising jointly for 'Children with Cancer UK' as they are funding crucial research into finding cures, improving treatments and reducing long term side effects of all childhood cancers.

Henry's Odyssey - Our aim is to give 50% of funds raised to 'Children with Cancer UK' and 50% for an end of treatment adventure for Henry.