Carey was nine months old when in December 2021 he was diagnosed with juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML), a rare form of blood cancer.


Our beautiful son Carey was born in Brighton in March 2021. He’s a little brother to a devoted Aubrey, and the most wonderful addition to our family that we could imagine.  


During Carey’s first nine months, his dad Simon and I experienced the joys of post-lockdown introductions, dreamy night feeds and the gentle reshaping of our family into a foursome. We felt incredibly lucky as we watched our boy grow big and strong.  


However, in December 2021, we discovered that our happy baby was suffering from juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML), a serious, very rare cancer of the blood that affects young children.


He’d originally been admitted to hospital with what was first thought to be bronchiolitis, having been very poorly for a week, and we went straight to the high-dependency unit as he was so sick. He was put on bipap, to give him lots of oxygen and to help him breathe. A couple of days after, he came off the bipap, but the doctors were doing blood tests, and were worried about them not being as they would expect for just a virus in someone so young.


A few days later, they told us that we were going to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London, for a bone marrow aspiration. We were blue-lighted there and, after more tests, we were given the diagnosis of JMML. It’s impossible to describe how we felt when we heard, or how we’ve felt every moment since. Nothing prepares you for hearing the words “oncology” and “cancer”, and it’s incredibly difficult to even begin to make sense of it.


It's every parent's worst nightmare.


We’re being looked after by an incredible medical team at the Royal Alexandra (Alex) in Brighton and GOSH. And throughout his treatment so far, Carey has been a delight. He’s doing really well and taking everything in his stride. Seeing his smiling face and watching him with Aubrey is what’s getting us through this extremely tough time. Aubrey absolutely adores him.


Since Carey’s diagnosis, we’ve been inundated with people asking if they can help fundraise and we would like to contribute to research into JMML, as so little is known about it. We’re so grateful to all our friends and family who have asked what they can do to support us, and we’re very keen for people’s goodwill to be used to help other children and families in our situation. It is something so awful, but we hope that something positive can come out of it.


It's very, very important to us to set this fund up and be able to put the funds specifically towards research into JMML,




as it’s so desperately needed. We need to know why children with JMML relapse and how we stop this happening. What’s more, we want children with JMML to one day be able to be cured without the need for a bone marrow transplant and splitting up families, like ours, for months at a time in the process. If we can help contribute to research like this, and if another family can benefit from research that we’ve funded in the years ahead, then that would mean so much.


Please help us raise some money for the ongoing research into JMML. Research into childhood cancers is very badly funded and more work is urgently needed to give kids like Carey the best possible outcomes.


We can help to make that happen. We’ve called the fund ‘Carey’s Friends’ because, along with all the other little children with JMML, that’s what you are. Whether fundraising, donating or helping us spread the word, you’re all Carey’s friends. For Carey and for other babies and children who are suffering, we hope you will join us.