Lossie two-year-old sounds bell to signal end of cancer treatment
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A TWO-YEAR-OLD Lossiemouth boy can look forward to a happy family Christmas after ringing the end-of-treatment bell for a rare cancer last week.
Life changed drastically for little Lachlan Stewart on May 13 last year when he was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma. At that point Lachlan wasn't even walking – he took his first steps in hospital.
Lachlan, the second youngest of six children, was dubbed "The Bull" by one Aberdeen doctor for his strength and spirit through rapid back-to-back bouts of chemotherapy as his 19 months of hospital stays and treatment began.
The youngster was the first to ring a new bell at Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital (RACH) in dad James Stewart's arms, surrounded by family.
Mum Sarahjane Galbraith (30), of Rockall Place, Lossiemouth, said: "He's a wee superhero.
"It is a huge relief to get to this point. I didn't think I would see the day come. But he's done it. He's made me so proud.
"It was great just to see him with no tubes, no Hickman lines, nothing.
"When he had them in we had to watch for line infections so he wasn't allowed to do anything – no swimming, no PlayBarn or bowling or indoor soft-play areas. So it's great. The kids are absolutely dying to get out somewhere and go back to normal again."
The family will feature in an episode of BBC Scotland's The Children's Hospital, which filmed Lachlan both at his weakest and later as he joyfully rang the bell on Monday, November 4.
It was May 12 last year, during a school-night bath routine, when Sarahjane first got an inkling all was not well with Lachlan.
She said: "I was bathing him, and he had been unwell for four weeks. We were told it was viral, then it was an ear infection, he'd had antibiotics. He was just not picking up and was going off his food. I said to Jimmy 'his stomach is looking swollen'.
"The way he was standing and walking, it was like he was bracing himself."
The mum took her son to A&E, and was told there was a block in his kidney. But she pushed for a second opinion.
Within minutes of another doctor feeling Lachlan's stomach Sarahjane was told her son had a sizeable tumour and would have to be transferred straight to Aberdeen.
The mum said: "The whole way there the tears were just blinding me. I kept saying to myself 'she's got it wrong, she's got it wrong'.
"Then it was tests – blood tests, MRIs, MIBGs, everything. And on May 15, 2018, they came back and took me and Jimmy aside and said 'we're sorry to tell you but your son has a rare form of neuroblastoma. On the Thursday they got the chemotherapy started."
Lachlan was in theatre for nine hours at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on January 10 to have the tumour removed. After just 24 hours in intensive care he was back on the oncology ward.
His mum said: "On day two he put his arms up to be picked up. Then we turned our backs and he was away out the door – running off to the toy room!"
Sarahjane was pregnant with sixth child Billy Jo during this time. She was planned to be born in Aberdeen but came early during one of Lachlan's hospital stays in Glasgow. Dad James (43), still raw from losing his own dad to cancer in the December previously, ran to and fro between Lachlan's ward and the maternity ward for a time.
The mum expressed thanks to the many local charities and businesses which rallied round to support the family, including local charities Logan's Fund, the Eileidh Rose Puddles Project and the ARCHIE Foundation, UK cancer charity CLIC Sargent, and the Les Hoey DreamMaker Foundation.
The mum added: "The community and shops of Lossiemouth have been a great help."
Alarmingly, however, Sarahjane said she was left shocked and "petrified" halfway through Lachlan's treatment, in March this year, when hate mail was sent to the house – including a petrol-bomb threat – over the fact the family had received charity money. Police are investigating.
But the mum is determined to make the most of time now the family is back as one and is planning a holiday to Blackpool after Christmas.
She said: "We need to be really cautious as Lachlan's immune system is weak. But when he reaches 12 months that's when we can take more of a back seat and not panic so much.
"It was a long haul – especially when you've got six kids. Trying to keep them going, keeping the routine going as much as possible. Without my mum I don't know where I would have been. She has been an absolute godsend.
"It hasn't quite sunk in yet. But we're back at home now, as a whole family, the way it should be."
