Our world was turned upside down on 17th November 2017 when my nephew Liam was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. We later found out after he didn’t respond well to his first round of treatment that he has a very rare type of leukaemia called Early Precursor T Cell (ETP ALL) which is unfortunately resistant to standard forms of chemotherapy. Liam has had to have specialised treatment on Ward 27 at Leicester Royal Infirmary – the children/teenagers cancer unit. He has received the best treatment on Ward 27 who have been tackling Liam’s very rare diagnosis with support from other hospitals including Great Ormond Street. Myself, Liam’s dad, his aunties and uncles along with their friends have decided to take part in a 5k & 10k run on March 18th 2018 at Stanwick Lakes, Northamptonshire. This is to raise funds for this incredible ward so they can buy things such as vital equipment to treat children and teenagers like Liam. They have given so much we feel it’s time to give something back. Liam continues his journey to get his Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) to 0% so he can then hopefully have a stem cell transplant. We pray every day that this treatment will work. Liam has just completed Nelarabine chemotherapy treatment to attack his T Cells and now has another month of therapy before his MRD is tested again. He will be receiving treatment on Ward 27 for a very long period of time so we felt it was apt to raise money to support the fantastic work these very special people do. We pray that with the hard work, determination and courage from both Liam and Ward 27 that he will have a full recovery and beat this awful disease. We long to see our little champion back playing football and being man of the match where he belongs. We are doing this for Ward 27, for our brave and courageous Liam and to spread the word about Leukaemia and the long journey that it entails. We are Team Liam and we can do this. Please if you could donate even a little it will go a long way to helping children like Liam fight cancer and beat it.

Thank you everyone for the generous donations to our JustGiving page. We have been overwhelmed by the support shown and also how much money has been raised, which has far exceeded our expectations. Due to the volume of donations we would like to share the money with two additional charities that are close to our heart since Liam was diagnosed. By sharing the money between Ward 27 and these two charities we are able to help more children and families affected by cancer.

The first charity is the Team Lewis Trust. This newly founded charity has been set up after a child called Lewis sadly lost his fight with ETP T Cell ALL, the same strain of Leukaemia Liam is fighting. This charity is raising funds for much needed research into ETP T Cell ALL which until now has been largely overlooked and underfunded. Please see the links to this charity below for more information. The charity is in its infancy so we would like to help them in any way we can.

The second charity is the Mia Moo's Foundation, who raise money to help fund much needed holidays for children with cancer and their families going through similar treatments to Liam. Again please see the link below to read about this amazing charity.

http://www.teamlewistrust.org.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/pg/teamlewistrust/about/?ref=page_internal

https://www.facebook.com/Miamoosfoundation/

Many Thanks for taking time to read our story and for your kind donations.

Louise and Will Haydon, Joanne and Jason Robinson, Nathan and Maria Robinson and Caroline Swingler 💙💙💙