Cancer: Family’s donor plea as son, two, battles rare leukaemia

A family has issued a plea for bone marrow donors after their two-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare cancer.

Doctors had described Elijah, from Pontypridd, as a medical "mystery" and were unable to explain his constant illness prior his diagnosis.

Chloe Jones, Elijah's mum and also a nurse, said he had "never gone longer than two weeks" without becoming ill.

Elijah is now in need of a bone marrow transplant and his family are urging people to help them find a match.

Chloe said she first began to piece together why Elijah had been in and out of hospital for almost 18 months while giving him a bath.

"I noticed there were quite a few bruises going along his spine… then I noticed his mouth and his tongue and lips had all of these blood spots and they looked like blisters," she said.

She and her partner Rhys began to consider that low levels of blood platelets - cells which help prevent bleeding - could be affecting Elijah's health.

After a 10-day stay in the Noah's Ark Children's Hospital in Cardiff, Elijah was diagnosed with genetic condition Noonan syndrome and juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML), a rare type of blood cancer which affects young children.

In just 12 weeks, Elijah had developed tonsillitis, croup, respiratory syncytial virus, pneumonia and an ear infection.

"If he just had a common cold it would lead to something else, it would be sickness, he would be off his food... and then it would be something else - it was just constant," said Chloe.

Chemotherapy is not as effective for treating Elijah as JMML is not an active cancer, instead lying dormant until patients become unwell.

Elijah requires a bone marrow transplant, when healthy stem cells are implanted into the patient via their bloodstream where they begin to grow and create healthy cells.

His family are appealing for people to sign up to the stem cell register, in order to give Elijah the best chance of finding a donor match.

Elijah's appeal has received the support of blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, as well as a number of celebrities and sports stars.

A social media post from Chloe to update friends and family about her son's progress was shared far and wide, including by former Tottenham and West Ham manager Harry Redknapp.

Chloe said she and Rhys had been trying to keep Elijah's life as normal as possible by doing a lot of outdoor activities such as walks and trips to the park, but his life has become limited.

"We've taken him out of childcare, to just try and eliminate any risk of him getting any kind of illness at childcare, soft plays, anywhere like that is a 'no go' zone," she said.

Speaking ahead of his second birthday celebrations, Chloe said it had been "really hard" to make any plans.

"I can't guarantee what the weather is going to be like, I can't plan anything, so no plans yet. Hopefully we can just go for a walk or to the park. As much as I love Wales it is quite tough."

Despite his health troubles, Chloe said Elijah had not let his condition slow him down, and that "you wouldn't think anything was wrong if you saw him".

"Even when he was really unwell and he was in hospital he was still running up and down the corridors, going into the other children's rooms, pinching chocolates and snacks... he is definitely a little soldier."

Chloe said it had been helpful to finally have some answers and to have the support of parents of other children her son had been in hospital with.

In an appeal for people to add their name to the stem cell register, she said: "You don't know how much it's needed until you see it first hand and it's such a simple thing to do to donate your bone marrow.

"It's absolutely life changing for those who need it and there are so many people who do need it, and there's not enough people on the register.

"It's so simple to get on the register, if you're already donating blood or platelets, it's just a tick box, and if you're not, it's just a mouth swab. It's so simple, and if you get called up you're potentially saving a life."