It is sad that we will never you see him reach this age or his full potential however in the short time that he was with us, he has left a lasting impression, not only on me but everyone who came into his life.

Hitan you may not have been on this mortal world for long (4 years 1 month) but your impact will continue to live on. You are my inspiration that helped me complete a number of marathons and half marathons. This my tribute to  you by  taking on this last challenge to raise money for Birmingham Childrens Hospital.

 In true fashion I have taken on the challenge from Birmingham Children’s. Hospital to mark Hitan’s 21st Birthday. 

This is to help them raise money for children on the Oncology ward, who treated Hitan from Oct 2003 to Aug 2004. This is when he lost is battle against Brain tumour, Modularblastoma a rare but deadly tumour.

I will be taking part in 4 events(4 represents the age when he left this mortal world at the young age 4 years 1 month🥲🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽): The Solihull Half marathon, the Great North run 🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️, the London marathon🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️, and may be tempted to finish challenge by completing  the Great Birmingham half marathon 🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♂️. 

This is to increase the awareness of Brain tumours in young children and to raise money for the Children’s hospital🏥🏥

The last year and half has been a challenging year for everyone, especially for those children and staff 👩‍⚕️👩🏽‍⚕️👨🏽‍⚕️🧑‍⚕️in hospital. Therefore the Birmingham children’s hospital and I would appreciate your support in raising the much needed money to keep children smiling during a difficult period in their lives.

Please click on the link below and donate as much as you can- every penny counts. Thank you for your continued support. sending you a big hug 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 from myself,  from the  children and staff at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.🏥

Below is the fully of Hitan

Below are more details of the care and the treatment that our son received at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. It’s my account of the events:

Our son was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour called "Medulloblastomas” 0n 20 October 2003, If you would like to read more about the condition, then please click on the web link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medulloblastoma.

The brain surgeon who operated on our son was Mr. Walsh at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The operation was successful, as Mr. Walsh was able to remove all of a tumour, he gave us our son back,
and without any side effect, Hitan still had that cheeky smile 😊 and sparkling personality😉😎😜.

A day after the operation, when Hitan woke up, the first thing he wanted was to go home and see his big sister Divya, who he couldn't be parted from. This was a very difficult time for Divya as she was only 6 years old at the time, but she handled the situation with great maturity. Divya has grown into a beautiful, intelligent young lady who has the
world at feet.

• Following the Operation, Hitan was transferred to the Oncology ward under the care of Mr. Martin English, for further treatment which would have lasted 9 months.

The treatment designed was a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and finally second chemotherapy. During this period Niran (mum) made countless emergency trips to the hospital where Hitan required blood transfusion and had to spend some nights stay onward due to infection or reaction to the blood transfusion.

During this time Niran has seen things that no mother should see. I am saddened that I couldn’t have been there, but I had to keep working during the treatment. Niran was the rock that kept the family together in difficult times.

On one occasion Hitan phoned me while I was still at work and he shouted down the phone “come home!!!!! Now”, all my colleagues heard, this made me make a life-changing decision, which was to resigned and go back into contracting. It was the best decision I made as it allowed  me to spend more quality time with Hitan and Divya.

After the first session of chemotherapy which ended in February. In March 2004, we were told that all of the cancerous cells had gone. Therefore, as you can imagine all of the family felt a sense of relief and joy that Hitan was free of cancer and that our son could look forward to a normal life, however, we had to continue with the treatment to ensure that all of the cancerous cells were killed.

All our visits to the Children’s hospital was made bearable by the staff who looked after Hitan and by all the creature comforts; toys, video games, play stations and TV that was made available to kids.

The second stage of his treatment was radiotherapy, which was not easy as we had to take him every morning to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Selly Oak Birmingham which lasted for six weeks.

We all celebrated his 4th Birthday on 3 July 2004; he was full of life and spark. If you saw him or met him, you would never have guessed that he was ill, he was a fighter, he never showed any signs of his illness, he just got on with it.

We were into the final phase of his treatment in August 2004, on the 7th of August 2004, which was Saturday, these are all things he did:

· He had a water fight with his cousins.

· He went shopping with Niran (mum), and sister (Divya) for some clothes and swimwear.

· Made me cut the lawn when it didn’t need cutting.

· Then asked if we could go to Pizza Hut, as we had already eaten, I said that I would go and buy him favourite garlic bread with cheese, which is all he ate from Pizza Hut, he would only eat the cheese, and then he would pass the garlic bread to his sister.

Before he went to bed that evening he made me play the game on the play station Spider-Man.

This was the last good memories that I have of my son, following morning we had to rush him to the hospital and we were informed that cancer had come back and it was very aggressive. It had spread all over is the brain, which is why he could not speak or move. Hitan finally lost his fight against a Brain tumour 10th August 2004.

I hope that this story has not been too stressful or draining, that was not my intention, it was meant to highlight the good work that the Birmingham Children’s Hospital does for our kids.

They try hard to make the kid's life easier in difficult situations, and I hope that you will understand why I am running for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and you will support me to raise money for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Your donation will help to make the kids visit the hospital more comfortable in a difficult situation; 

your support is very much appreciated by myself and the Birmingham Children's Hospital.

So Big thank you and a massive Hug from me.

Harish Patel.