Debbie and Matt Gaut share the experiences they went through when they had a leukaemia diagnosis with their family. 

Debbie and Matt’s son Harry was diagnosed in 2013 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) at only two years of age. Following the diagnosis, he underwent over three years of treatment before entering into remission. In 2016 Harry developed Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) which cruelly progressed and developed into Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). Unfortunately, Harry tragically passed away on 21st September 2016, just eight days after his 6th birthday.

“During our little boy Harry’s toddler years he had lots and lots of infections, which is quite common for that age, but after frequent visits to the doctors and in the end, frequent visits to the hospital, tragically, he was diagnosed with leukaemia. Harry, had to have three years of treatment – this involved chemotherapy, lots of hospital in stays when he had a high temperature, and he couldn’t do what other children could do, despite that, he was a happy little boy and he had lots of fun with all his family and his friends. Tragically in 2016, we lost our little lad, we realised then that we would do whatever we could to help and try and prevent other families from having to go through the same experience that we went through. Part of this has meant that we’ve been lucky enough to be involved with this incredible charity called Cure Leukaemia and through our own little part we’ve raised money to try and help support the charity the best we can. The reason why we raise money is because it’s desperately needed. It’s needed to fund the research nurses to facilitate the clinical trials that will lead to better outcomes for other families in positions like ours”. Debbie and Matt Gaut.