Today we have had a very special and memorable day in school to celebrate the end of treatment for Ethan and Emily. Both children have been undergoing treatment for Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), Ethan has had three years of treatment and Emily two years. As our school community have been part of their journey and this is such an amazing time, we decided to celebrate with them in school.
This morning the whole school came together for a special assembly and the families and friends of Ethan and Emily came along. Mr Dixon introduced the assembly and talked about why we had all come together, after this there was a very emotional slideshow of memories of both the children which highlighted the importance of strong families and also that they are two very brave and strong children. Following the slideshow we welcomed Jagoda Campbell-Hewson, who is a cancer specialist nurse at the RVI and has grown so close to the children throughout their treatment, to talk to the children about their type of cancer and what treatment they have had. This was a very engaging and informative assembly and she delivered it sensitively and even brought humour and audience engagement into the mix! The children asked many questions and left with an understanding of ALL.
At the end of the assembly Mr Dixon talked about their journey and how amazed he was at the care and sensitivity of all the children in school, as they have supported them on their way to recovery. A huge thank you Taylor Shaw as one of their employees (and lucky for us she is also one of our parents), Helen Merritt made two AMAZING cakes, one for each child as each of their roads to recovery were individual to them.
Finally, although this is not completely the end of treatment for Ethan and Emily, as they will still need to have check ups, and the worry will never be too far away from their parents minds, we wanted to mark this in some way in school. So, as the children ‘rang the bell’ at the RVI we have purchased a bell and individual plaques which have been put up in school. So even after the children move on through their lives and we are a memory we hope they treasure, their bravery and resiliency will echo through the ethos of the school and all will remember two of the bravest children we were blessed to teach.
A huge thank you to all of our families for always keeping these children in mind at times when yours have been poorly. Today we have raised £139.00 for Wards 4 and 14 of the RVI.
We have enjoyed a very ‘dancy’ lunch and the catering team did an amazing job of serving almost 160 lunches and decorating the hatch with balloons and ribbons donated to them by a flower shop in Stanley.
