"We wanted to give him every fighting chance we could."
Ashton was born with neonatal cancer in 2020
In 2020, Natasha and her partner Nathan had gotten the news they didn’t even know was possible.
Their second son Ashton was born in November, but rather than the celebratory occasion most parents get with the birth of a child, they were given the devastating news that their precious baby boy had Congenital Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).
At 36 weeks pregnant, Natasha was at home and hadn’t felt the baby move, “...something was telling me there was something wrong.”
“When they took him out, they all kind of looked at each other—it was really, really quiet… I knew something was wrong".
Ashton was taken away to be assessed, before Natasha could hold him, or see him. About half an hour later, Natasha was shown a photo of her baby boy. She still chokes up at the memory of seeing him for the first time, “he was swollen and bruised with little lumps behind his ear, on his neck, on his back and on his eyebrow...”
“I was mentally preparing a funeral for a newborn. I never had hope that we were going to bring him home.”
The first time Ashton looked at Natasha was a couple of days into chemotherapy, “He was talking to me through his gaze. He told me ‘Mum, I’ve got this. You don’t need to worry".
Despite doctors not expecting him to survive his first treatment, Ashton was able to come home in April 2021 after finishing chemotherapy.
Families should never have to go through what Natasha and Nathan have.
Ashton went through three rounds of chemotherapy from when he was born in November 2020, through to April 2021. Each round lasted 5-10 days and took 4-6 weeks to recover from.
Little Ashton then went through a bone marrow transplant just after his first birthday in November 2021 and spent another Christmas in hospital.
Despite all the setbacks, Natasha says “he is the most energetic and playful little boy I know. He is absolutely beautiful and is bound to melt your heart. He has the most beautiful smile that would make anyone smile if they were having a bad day".
Ashton is now at home with his family, and he has no disease detected after treatment.
Families like Natasha's urgently need your help. Donate today to help fund lifesaving research that could help other families.
This is why your support right now is critical.
Unless we fund more research into childhood cancers, sadly many more children will die.
No child should have to go through scary, painful cancer treatment. And no parent should have to watch it happen.
Please make a generous gift this Christmas, and support life-saving cancer research.
Today, more than 84% of children with cancer will survive for five years or longer and most of these children will have a similar long-term prognosis as children who have never had cancer.
All cancers are cruel. But there’s something about childhood cancers that breaks my heart and sharpens my resolve, in equal measure
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