Children from Building Blocks Nursery, Two Counties Nursery and Croesyceiliog Playgroup are raising money for a three-year-old Cwmbran boy who has cancer.
Declan Saunders, from Thornhill, was taken to the hospital by his mum, Emma Draper, in June. She thought he had a water infection. But blood tests came back and she said she was told it was “pointing towards cancer”.
Since he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma he’s had eight cycles of intensive chemotherapy and been “back and forth to the hospital” countless times. This weekend he’s going to London for proton beam therapy.
Emma told Cwmbran Life her son has a “long way to go”. Each course of treatment leads to the weakening of his immune system meaning his family has to be extra careful to avoid infections. Declan has lost his “hair and eyebrows” and had to “have a line put in his main artery in his heart.”
Her sister Danielle used to work for the nurseries and her former workmates wanted to do something to help. On Monday 9 December, children from the nurseries and playgroup will do a lap of Woodland Road sports ground to raise money.
A GoFundMe page has also been set up by Emma’s brother, Adam, to help with the family’s costs to “raise some funds to get him through his radiotherapy in London which will last six weeks.”
Emma thanked her mum, dad and family for their support: “They all love him to bits and want what’s best for him.”
The Young Lives vs Cancer charity says: “Rhabdomyosarcoma is a type of soft tissue sarcoma (tumour). Fewer than 60 children are diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in the UK each year. Most of them are younger than 10 years old. It is more common in boys than girls.”