Below is Tobys Story told to me by his mum Alison .

My story is simple , I am here to support Toby and raise as much money as possible for the hospital , Please take 5 minutes out your hectic day to have a read 😉

After a few weeks of feeling unwell with no straight answers to Toby's symptoms. Toby's GP Dr Findlay MacDonald requested bloods which flagged up seriously low blood levels & Toby was admitted to The Children's Ward at Victoria Hospital Kirkcaldy. They discussed his results with Edinburgh Sick Kids and Toby was transferred to ward 2 - Edinburgh Sick Kids the following day. The medical team stated that Toby would go to theatre the following day to have a bone marrow aspirate. Toby shortly after being admitted to ward 2 was fitted with a cannula and given a blood transfusion this was given to get him through the procedure as he was so poorly.

Ward 2 is the haematology and oncology Ward so at the time we were oblivious of the outcome . Toby went into theatre on the afternoon of Friday 12th December 2014 his Grandpa's 80th birthday. By 5pm that evening after the medical team had reviewed he's bone marrow we were informed that Toby aged 9, had Pre B ALL - acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Our world stopped.

You did not have time to take this numbing news in,

treatment started straight away, all these new strange words to learn first being Dexamethasone(steroids), then another blood transfusion. Theatre was booked again on Monday 15th as Toby was to have a portacath fitted which would stay within him throughout his treatment and that would be used to feed all his chemo, bloods, IV antibiotics & anaesthetic. Toby stayed in hospital until Christmas Eve. Buy this point he's treatment was well underway. Life changed not just for Toby but as a family. We all lived in an unserial world learning this new way of life of how to care for Toby. Toby's chemo treatment was harsh based on ten week blocks, each block brought different chemo's and these would be administered orally, a needle in his leg, through his port or in theatre where his medical team would feed a tiny tube into his spine & administer chemo so the cancer would not spread to his brain. At one point Toby was on nine different types of chemo in one week. At the end of 8 months intense chemotherapy which would see us driving backwards and forwards to Edinburgh sometimes 5 or 6 days a week. Toby then went on to a maintenance schedule.

Maintenance was oral chemo given daily at home for 3 years and theatre was booked every 12 weeks for chemo in his spine. It was still no easy ride. At the end of the 1235 days, the 25th April 2018 Toby was cancer free.

Toby has been & still is, so strong & courageous. He dealt with every side effect of treatment (hair lose twice! , Infections, sickness, weighloss & weight gain) & it was a tough journey but he never stopped smiling.

Toby has to respect his body now due to the chemo side effects however we can deal with that, I have my precious son. Even though treatment stopped in 2018, Toby has attended outpatient check ups for 5 years, now at the new hospital where on Monday 3rd July 2023, Toby (3 days away from his 18th birthday) was discharged by his amazing consultant Dr Matt Howard-Jones 🎗️

Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital old and new is amazing. A sky dive is on Toby's bucket list & to do it for this amazing charity and hospital would be a privilege 💛 Good Luck Toby & Bruce x

Please Send what you can as every little helps 💜