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?

Yes

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 30th November 2011

It's been a while since I've updated - we've been doing lots of travelling to Germany and back and we don't always have easy Internet access.

After an awful time with cycle one of immunotherapy in Germany (Adam was knocked out by the morphine and ended up in our local with pneumonia), he has positively sailed through the last 2, mainly due to switching from morphine to a different drug with few of the side affects. We spend 2 and a half weeks in Germany and then 2 and a half at home - and whilst at home, Adam has managed to go to school for a few hours each day.

Adam is now at junior school and when there he thoroughly enjoys himself. He sees old friends and has generally settled into the class and school with new teachers. He is now "a proper schoolboy" and came home sporting a black eye - a result of clashing heads whilst playing cops and robbers on the playground. How normal is that?

However, "normal" grinds to a halt every fifth Saturday, when we wave goodbye to our other 2 children and drive across Europe to hospital. Adam is taking it all in his stride. He has the occasional wobble as we leave but we've made the whole time as comfortable as possible. Because we drive, we take a fair few home comforts, and when we arrive, Adam's new friend Ryan - another English boy being forced to make the journey to Germany - is there waiting for him. We spend far longer at the hospital each day than we need to because the boys are having such a good time together.

When we get home there is always a bag of Post Pals post waiting for us. Adam and Jessica love diving through the post. A big thank you to everyone who sends things to the children. Also, a big thank you to Dominic as he writes almost every week - and even sent Adam a postcard from his holiday this month. He was at Disney and I would have thought he'd have too many exciting things to do.

Today (Sunday 6th November) Adam had a birthday party - he will be 8 on Wednesday. He had a handful of friends to play football in the garden and I don't think we could have planned anything better for him. His Dad and big brother did a spot of training with the boys and then they had a short match. Once again, it was all so normal.

We will miss Jessica's birthday though. She is 10 one week after Adam is 8 and we will be in Germany by then. Her grandparents are going to be looking after her and she is already planning what treats they are going to do for her.

Adam recently had a MIBG scan to see how his disease is going. The result is that everything looks to be stable which is good news. He has another couple of scans during the next cycle in Germany and its fingers crossed that the results will back up the MIBG.

Update 5th July 2011

Thank you to everyone who sends mail to Adam, Jess and Jake. The arrival of the post continues to bring smiles to all. Adam is doing very well at the moment. Apart from very dry skin and having to avoid the sun (and yes we have had lots of sunny days this summer!) because of his current oral chemo, he's enjoying life.

Adam, Jess and dad Nick had a great time at the Post Pals party a couple of weeks ago. The bouncy castle and slide was a huge hit as far as they were concerned. A big thanks to all the people involved in organising such a lovely day.

Since May half term, he has been going to school almost every day - although not for the whole day. He very quickly settled into a routine with his old friends. He even has his old reception teacher as his current teacher. He's been on school trips including an entire day at Chessington. He's practising for his year 2 leavers’ assembly and as I type this, is attending his induction day at his new junior school. It's about as 'normal' a life as we can make it at the moment.

However, we are now waiting to be given dates for Adam to start immunotherapy in Germany. He has been accepted on the trial there but, as yet, we don't know when we are going. When we do go, we're expecting to spend 2 weeks at the hospital there out of every 5. So we will be home in between. For now though, we're enjoying our home life as much as we can.

Update 11th May 2011

Adam is doing very well at the moment. It's been 3 months since high dose chemo and stem cell transplant. He has recovered all the weight that he lost and seems to be recovering some of his energy levels too. His blood counts are still on the low side but are stable. Easter holidays were quite a turning point. I'm not quite sure if it was the sun coming out or having Jake and Jess off school to play with, but he was full of energy. He did lots of cycling and walking, playing in the garden and we had a few trips to the beach. We even spent an afternoon at West Wittering with Adam wrapped in cling film to protect his Hickman line whilst he paddled. He got a little wet when a wave came over the side of the dingy he was in, but he was a very happy little boy.

Scans show that the high dose chemo has had no effect on the visible disease in Adam. As this is chemo designed to rid the body of any hidden cancer cells to prevent relapse, the fact that Adam's disease burden was stable came as no surprise. We are now in the process of deciding what future treatment Adam is to have. He will have scans next week to see if the disease that's left is still active. The outcome of this will determine which course of action we take. What we do know is that any further treatment is going to be abroad. There are no options here. It's a scary thought and we are trying to get as much family time as we can.

Update 1st March 2011

Adam is home again following his stem cell transplant. I don’t think he broke the record for starting pre-transplant conditioning and coming home but he would have been close. Three weeks and 4 days!

As with everything that gets thrown at him, Adam coped with it all with very little complaint. He had 2 weeks where he was unwell but once his blood counts (well, the “white” ones) started to recover, so did he. His red blood cells are going to take longer because of this chemo and the MIBG therapy he had at the start of January – visits to Epsom General for blood and platelet transfusions will be frequent.

He is tired and feels the cold more than he did before but he still has a smile on his face most of the time. His first task on coming home from the Marsden was to play the Xbox with Jake. I think they both missed their play sessions. There will be scans and lots of discussions about what the next course of action is for Adam but for now he’s home!

Thank you to everyone who sent post to The Royal Marsden. Adam thought it was great when a letter or two (or three…) arrived at his bed.

Update 31st January 2011

As of yesterday, Adam is at the Royal Marsden in Sutton for high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant. It’s going to be scary time for all of us but particularly Adam. He’s had a lovely couple of weeks at home – he was pronounced no longer radioactive just a week after leaving UCH having had MIBG therapy. So all three children got to run around home – laughing and arguing – as normal. Adam is about as healthy as he’ll ever be undertaking this next stage of his treatment. All we can do now is cross our fingers that he’s strong enough to cope with whatever it throws at him.

Update 3rd January 2011

We all spent Christmas at home! We were never really sure what the plan for Adam was going to be and at one point he was due to have his next dose of mibg therapy on 15th December which would have made him radioactive over Christmas. As a family, I think we would have had to have had a late Christmas Day if that had happened. However, the doctors had a rethink and he is now due at UCLH on January 5th. So we’ve had a medical free festive season.

Christmas at home was lovely – grandparents and other relatives came to visit and all the children had a great time. We even managed to go away to the other grandparents at New Year – the first time we’ve been visiting anyone since Adam was diagnosed in July 2009. Adam was over the moon to be going somewhere different, “where can we go next?” he said. I think he just appreciated the normality of it.

Once again Post Pals have been very generous – to all of us and not just Adam. I even had a box of chocolates or two. A big thank you. It’s been a very long year and it has been brightened by the kind people who are Adam’s post pals.

Update 26th November 2010

It’s been a busy month for us – November usually is – as both Adam and Jessica have their birthday. Adam started off the birthday season a few days before his birthday with a Spiderman party held in his school hall. It was great for him to see his friends as he still isn’t able to go to school very often. His actual birthday was a very special day for us all. This was thanks to a wonderful charity called Dreams Come True. Adam got to meet his hero, American wrestler John Cena and to watch the WWE Raw event at the O2. Adam had no idea what was going that evening and it was great to watch his face when John Cena walked into the room. The man himself was very accommodating and had his picture taken with Adam, then with Adam, Jake and Jessica, and then with Adam, Jake, Jess, Nick and myself. We then went to watch the show. I don’t think we could have asked for better seats as Adam shouted himself hoarse over the next couple of hours. We all had a great time. His birthday couldn’t have been any better. Jessica had a lovely birthday too albeit slightly less exciting! I took her and several friends to the cinema and for a meal. I guess we can’t meet wrestling stars every time there’s a birthday…

Adam is about to have a short course of chemo in readiness for a third stem cell harvest. Once the harvest is done – cross fingers please that it is more successful than previous attempts – he will go for another course of internal mibg radiotherapy. We have yet to find out how this will affect Christmas but we will make the most of it wherever we are.

A big thank you to everyone who sent birthday greetings and gifts to both Adam and Jessica.

Update 2nd November 2010

Adam is again feeling quite well. He spent the earlier part of October radioactive due to internal radiotherapy. He was isolated in a room for 6 days with only a little contact with his mom and dad and then once he could leave the hospital, wasn’t allowed to go home as he couldn’t have close contact with other children. So I (mom) took him to our caravan near Bognor Regis. It turned out to be a lovely week. The sun shone every day. We cycled, fed the ducks and did a little bit of tennis and golf! Once Adam was tested and his radioactivity levels had dropped, we came home. Only to go back to the caravan but this time with all five of us.

Since then, he’s had a couple of visits to school and enjoyed half term with Jake and Jessica. Now we’re waiting for blood counts to go up and we’ll be back for hospital visits. Another stem cell harvest is planned, followed by another dose of internal radiotherapy. But for now, we’re all home together.

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.