HARRI GILLEN

This is Harri the lovely 4 year old son of Liz and Lee, brother to 6 year old Ellie, Peter Rabbit and Octonaut expert. In November 2014 his parents discovered a lump on his left forearm, they instinctively knew that something was wrong.

Following investigations Harri was diagnosed with a rhabdomyosarcoma tumour. This is an extremely rare and aggressive cancer that only affects a small number of children in the UK each year. Harri now faces gruelling treatment to fight this cancer including chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.

Harri started chemotherapy in December and will continue to have treatment every three weeks for six months, when he will be reassessed. Unfortunately following his first round of treatment Harri developed an infection which meant he spent most of the Christmas period in hospital. He also suffered a severe reaction to one of the chemotherapy drugs a few weeks ago, that scared his family and required alterations to his treatment. These hospital admissions are so tough on all of the family, Harri and mum in hospital and dad and Ellie at home.

Please support Harri and his family in the fight against this cancer. Funds raised will be used initially to help support the family during the period of Harri’s treatment whilst Liz provides the full-time care Harri requires and Lee works reduced hours to support his family. Any monies raised would significantly help to ensure that both parents were available to take Harri to his appointments, be with him during long hospital stays and care for him at home whilst also meeting all of Ellie's needs. The family would also like to put the money towards  making a  a few of Harri's wishes come true, the first of which would be building him a treehouse in the garden.

As well as the many initial side effects that could potentially effect Harri during treatment there are also many long-term effects to Harri’s health and well-being. Any remaining funds will be placed in a fund for Harri to help him overcome any of these effects in the future.

This fund has been set up by friends and family of Liz and Lee to support them during this time. They would also like to make a donation to LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity as a thank you for the support they have received.

The family would like to thank you for all donations and support, no matter how small.