C/O 39 Dorling Drive
Epsom
Surrey
KT17 3BH
United Kingdom

NB: this is a forwarding address for the Pal, we do NOT disclose home addresses

Email Pal

Adam B's Parents/Guardians

Nicholas and Alison

Adam B's Siblings

Jacob 15/5/1999, likes XBOX, music (JLS, Scouting For Girls, X Factor and more), cricket and football. Likes TV (MI High, was a big Harry Potter fan growing up). Jessica 16/11/2001, likes girls stuff, writing and drawing, iCarly, H2O and those kind of TV shows.

Adam B's Interests

He watches lots of TV - SpongeBob, Tom & Jerry, Scooby-Doo, Phineas & Ferb, Power Rangers, MI High, iCarly and more. He collects and hoards stuff; stickers, keyrings, healing stones(!), erasers. Enjoys playing when he's up to it. Make-believe/spy games, pretend gadgets.

Adam B's Favourite Colour

Blue or Green

Is Adam B able to read?

No

Is Adam B able to use hands?

Yes

Is Adam B visually/hearing impaired?

No

Does Adam B suffer from any developmental delay?

No

Story written 2010

In July 2009 Adam was diagnosed with High-Risk Neuroblastoma (Stage Four), a rare and aggressive cancer that affects about 100 children in the UK each year. In addition to the primary tumour in his abdomen, the disease had spread to his bone marrow, his lymphatic system, and other distant areas of his body. Like the vast majority of children, Adam had an advanced form of the disease before it was discovered.

Since his diagnosis Adam has been cared for by one of the country's leading paediatric cancer care units. He has so far had surgery to remove a gland in his neck, had an intravenous line fitted directly into his heart for drug administration, undergone 8 months of intensive chemotherapy, endured dozens of invasive testing procedures and needed numerous blood and platelet transfusions. He also has to take a daily cocktail of other drugs to counter the side-effects of the chemotherapy and to try and keep his body functioning normally.

So far Adam’s cancer has not responded well enough to treatment. His bone marrow remains infected and scans still show disease spread throughout his body. Without being clear of detectable disease Adam cannot move forward to the other stages of treatment - surgery, high-dose chemo, stem-cell transplant, radiotherapy, oral chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

He is to undergo two more 7-day cycles of a harsh chemotherapy regimen called TVD to try and get him to the next stage. Another series of bone marrow tests, CT and mIBG scans will follow at the start of May and his next course of treatment will be determined by the outcome of those scans.

Update 31st August 2010

Adam has had a lovely few weeks - we've spent every weekend of the school holidays at our caravan as a family. Jake's broken arm has meant that we've not been tied down to his sporting activities as we normally would. Every cloud…!! Jake's cast came off today and he'll be off sports for another 6-8 weeks.

There have been a few hospital visits for Adam, but generally he has been well. We've had walks to the beach, played golf and played lots and lots and lots of card games.

Summer is now over for us though. Adam is now at St Georges, Tooting, ready for surgery to remove the tumour in his abdomen. It is a daunting experience for us all but it also a milestone in Adam's treatment.

Update 9th August 2010

Adam is currently in the Royal Marsden for a second stem cell harvest - the first failed to get sufficient cells for future treatment. Adam finally achieved a clear bone marrow result so he can now finally move forward with treatment. He has remained well for the last few weeks and has even managed a short holiday with the family on the south coast. It was lovely to just be away from hospitals and treatment - although he didn't entirely escape. As we were packing the car to go home, Adam got stung by a wasp. He did have a slight reaction to it so we checked him out at a local hospital. Luckily the reaction didn't spread any further than the hand stung, so we continued our journey home a couple of hours later than planned.

Adam's older brother, Jake, broke his arm a few weeks ago whilst re-enacting the TV show Gladiators. He was on a podium above an inflatable with a pugil stick. His opponent knocked him off - as he was supposed to - but Jake managed to fall off the inflatable too. So he's had his fair share of hospital visits.

Once again, Dominic and his mum have made Adam and his parents smile. Adam regularly gets letters - and gifts - from Dominic which are full of tales of life in their household. A big thank you for the letters - one day they should be put together to make a wonderful book!

Big brother Jake has received a few more cards than normal due to the news that he broke his arm just before school ended. He would like to say thank you for the cards and especially for the very kind lady who sent him a skull and crossbones sling!

Update 12th July 2010

This afternoon Adam’s brother Jake broke his arm (quite badly) in an accident and he is in surgery having it fixed up. Obviously the family have got a lot to deal with already with Adam's Cancer and this must have quite an effect on the other children in itself. Given Jake's own predicament I think it would cheer him up to receive some mail himself. Thanks very much.

Update 29th June 2010

Adam and Jessica had a lovely time at the Post Pals party. It was great to meet those responsible for helping to put a smile on their faces.

We’d like to say a big "Thank you" to Dominic. He is a fellow 6 year old and his letters are very, very funny. Adam and his mum look forward to them. Adam even got an invite to Dominic's birthday party but it was a little too far to travel. Also, thank you to Jasper and his parents, Matt and Lucy, for sending Adam a lovely collection of foreign coins. We had lots of fun figuring out which country they came from.

Update 10th May 2010

After undergoing the last two rounds of TVD chemotherapy, Adam's latest set of examinations showed that the cancer remains active in both his bone marrow and throughout his body. He had no response to the previous two months of treatment and so his condition has been re-classified as 'stable' rather than 'responding'. Adam has just begun a new course of chemotherapy and will be retested again in July following two cycles of this new drug combination.

We have been amazed at the kindness of people sending messages, cards, letters, and gifts to Adam. We feel guilty that we are unable to respond to all the wonderful people who have taken the time to brighten Adam's day, however, it's simply not possible to do so, and we hope people understand and don't mistake this for lack of gratitude. It is now a definite highlight of Adam's day to receive Post Pals mail. He has started asking what time the postman comes and today as we were driving back from hospital he said he was excited to be going home because he wanted to see if there was anything from Post Pals for him to open when he got home.