This years Cancer Research UK ‘Little Star of the Year’ has been awarded to a five-year-old boy in our hometown of Northampton in recognition for his courage in the facing non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Finlay Ward from Abington in Northampton (as am I), found out he had cancer tissue in his throat and chest after an operation to remove his tonsils at Northampton General Hospital in July last year, and a further scan showed tumours on his kidney.
Finlay was immediately given chemotherapy at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to tackle the tumours on his kidney, with another four sessions required to kill the cancer in his chest. His hair fell out and he was plagued with painful ulcers in his mouth, but when his treatment finished in October a further scan showed he was in remission
His mother Gail, aged 40, who nominated Finlay for the Little Star award, said
‘It was a massive relief. It was a big shock to everybody when he was first diagnosed. We did all the things that as a parent you would try to do to keep your child healthy, and we just didn’t expect for our child to have cancer. It was devastating. Finlay is thrilled to bits with his Little Star award. He shows it to everyone and even takes it to bed with him.’
Cancer Research UK is inviting anyone who knows other brave children under the age of 18 who are currently battling cancer or have undergone treatment for the disease in the past five years, to nominate them for a Little Star Award.
