'˜Miracle' Doncaster baby fights rare cancer

Katie Nicholas, aged 21, of Skellow, took her son Jax to the doctors in September when he became pale and extremely irritable.

“Doctors checked his oxygen level and said it was too low. He was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary for some blood tests, that’s when doctors felt a lump in his bowel. They thought he had a blockage and we were rushed to Sheffield Children’s Hospital so they could operate.

“He was rushed into the high dependency unit but they couldn’t find a blockage. That’s when his blood test results came back and they said he had leukaemia.”

Katie and her partner, Michael Robinson, also 21, were told that Jax had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and carried an abnormal gene which only one in a million babies have. As a result, he will definitely need a bone marrow transplant.

“I just stared straight forward when they told us. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t cry, it was like my body had just stopped.”

The heartbroken couple, who are also parents to three-year-old Lacey-Rose were told to prepare for the worst.

“They started him on chemotherapy the same day he got diagnosed - September 30 - but they didn’t expect him to react well because he’s so young and so small. At the same time, Lacey-Rose had blood tests to see if she was a suitable bone marrow donor. Thankfully, she was.”

Jax, now age five-months, is defying doctors and responding well to treatment.

Katie added: “He’s a miracle. Doctors could perform the bone marrow transplant in December. We still need to wait and see if he will be healthy enough to have the transplant then, but even if he is we then have to hope he doesn’t reject the bone marrow. One day we hope to tell Lacey-Rose she saved her brother’s life.”

A fundraising day is being held on Sunday at the Foresters Arms pub, Adwick, between 12pm and 4pm to raise money to help the family.