Little fighter looks to a brighter future
IT'S been a tough two years for little Lewis Sheridan, the Brighouse youngster who is fighting leukaemia.
The battling toddler has endured spells in hospital, intensive chemotherapy and painful treatment in a bid to beat the disease which was diagnosed early in 2008.
But now his hopeful family are daring to believe that Lewis is over the worst and that, though he is still undergoing chemotherapy, he will soon be able to enjoy life to the full.
“He is walking and talking and is into everything, just like any two-year-old. He still has oral chemotherapy every day but we have seen a big improvement in him over the past couple of months,” said Lewis’s mum, Wincey. “He is three in Sept-ember and we really hope that will be a turning point for him.”
Wincey, her mum Joyce Schofield and aunt Rachel Sheridan have organised a fund-raising walk for the Candlelighters children’s charity on Saturday, July 11. More than 35 walkers will set off from the Ritz Ballroom at 12.30pm and take in a six-mile circuit of Bailiff Bridge and Hipperholme. Collectors will be out along the route and there will be a cake and bric-a-brac stall near the Town Hall.
Thanks to the Candlelighters, a charity based at St James’s Hospital in Leeds dedicated to helping children with cancer and their families, Wincey is able to take Lewis and his brother Logan, aged five, on a caravan holiday to Primrose Valley, near Filey, next month.
Lewis is among the 150 children and teenagers in Yorkshire who are referred to the specialist unit at St James’s Hospital every year. Helping families cope with the cancer diagnosis and with the many uncertainties and disruptions to family routine that the disease can involve is one of the aims of the Candlelighters charity.
“People have been so supportive,” said Joyce. “They have been brilliant at Cliffe Hill Primary School and at Field Lane and they have had a collection tin in a local shop for 18 months. It makes you realise how kind people are. Lewis is such a brave little boy even on his bad days. We can’t imagine what it must be like for him.”
Lewis was a healthy baby when he was born but at the end of 2007 he started being poorly and cysts and bruises appeared on his body. At first anaemia was suspected but then tests revealed to Lewis’s devastated family that he had leukaemia. He underwent major surgery for a perforated bowel and has endured lengthy spells in hospital.
There have been times when he has to be kept indoors to prevent him picking up an infection and at other times he has to starve for 24 hours before undergoing his three-monthly lumbar puncture procedure.
“It’s really difficult for him because he is on steroids which make him hungry. He can’t understand why he can’t have something to eat and why we won’t let him go near the fridge. When you go into hospital and go on to the children’s ward, it’s like a wake-up call to see the number of sick children there. So many families are going through similar things to us,” said Joyce.
The whole family is involved in caring for Lewis and in providing some fun time for brother Logan. Lewis’s aunt Rachel Sheridan said: “I call Lewis my chunky monkey. We do mollycoddle him but it’s hard not to when he’s been so poorly. Logan has been fantastic – he knows all about leukaemia and tells everyone what’s wrong with Lewis,” she said.
Mum Wincey said: “Obviously Lewis has his rough times and it is a constant worry. He had a bad patch after Christmas when he reacted badly to his antibiotics and he was really sick and weak. He ended up back in hospital for 10 days. But when he went back for a check-up last week they couldn’t believe how well he was looking and how much progress he has made.”
Wincey has to make sure that Lewis takes his medication every day – and that will continue for at least the next 18 months – and then he will be in remission for five years before getting the all-clear.
“All we can do is stay positive and cheerful around Lewis and try to help by organising fund-raising events to help others who are going through the same thing,” she said.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: 0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 28 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
