Bradley Lowery - Family to "make memories" over Christmas
5 year old Bradley is diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, yesterday his family had the devastating news his cancer has grown:
"So as most of you know Bradley’s had scans the last few days. To cut a long story short I’m devastated to let use know that his cancer has continued to grow. We have had a meeting with Bradley’s consultant and he has giving us three options but all three options only give us time with Bradley. First option is to take him home and stop all treatment this would only give us 2 month. Bradley’s consultant said if it was him he would do this. Second option is to give Bradley some oral chemo which is weak on the bloods. This is a palliative care option and he doesn’t think it will do anything but he said we could try. Third option is that he is willing to give a antibody and chemo combination that I was looking to go to America for if we can fund the drugs which is obviously not a problem. However he believes if we do that we could lose Bradley through treatment and we will be in hospital for at least two months. He believes regardless of the three options we have they all have the same outcome and that is Bradley will lose his fight. I honestly have no words to how heart broken I am right now. I really don’t know how I’m going to make a decision either to take my baby home and have a couple of months with him or put him through more gruelling treatment that could leave him fighting for his life and to have the same outcome."
This morning (Friday 9th December) Bradley's family say they've come to a decision.
"As a family we have decided to see if the consultant will give Bradley the oral chemo to tide him over till after xmas. Once we have made lots of memories and had an amazing xmas we are going to give the antibody/chemo combination a go for at least one round. If the toxicity is to bad we will stop it. This is not going to cure Bradley but there is a chance it could give him longer than the two months they expecting for him and in my eyes anything is worth a go I can’t just give up as I would always be thinking what if??? I will need to pay for the medication out of the funds we have got but it is no where near as expensive as if I was taking him to America. I will be forever grateful to Bradley’s consultant and the RVI team for what they have done for Bradley so far and what they are continuing to do for him I do not have one bad word to say about the amazing care and support we have received from everyone there. The money that will be left over is going to be “The Bradley Lowery foundation” charity and it will be used to help other children that need to fundraise for treatment or equipment. If you have did an event and not yet handed the money over can you please let the person who you give it to know if you want it to go to the foundation or to Bradley to help him make memories. All money that is put through the virgin page will automatically be put to the foundation trust fund. I will keep everyone updated on the rest of Bradley’s journey so use can all enjoy seeing him live the rest of his life. Today we are struggling to get the right balance between his pain medication as it is making him very sleepy, so the next couple of days we will be trying to get this sorted."