'I saw odd marks on my young baby - now he's been given a horrifying diagnosis'

18 August 2023 , 01:58

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Francis is just 16 weeks old and needs a transplant (Image: Anna Holland)

A mum has issued an urgent plea after her weeks old son was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia.

At just six weeks old, Francis Oldham started to come out in strange marks on his body. Mum, Anna Holland, said her son was sleeping a lot, but she thought that was due to his age, reports Liverpool Echo.

But seeing him sleep more than usual, she took him to their GP where he was taken to hospital with a high temperature. Initial thoughts were he was suffering from sepsis, but tests soon showed he had acute myeloid leukaemia, a rare form of cancer in children.

The devastating diagnosis came on August 9, when Francis was just 15 weeks old. Francis best chance of survival is having a bone marrow transplant from a donor who is a 10 out of 10 match with him. Mum Anna, from Walton , said: "He was back and fourth the doctors and hospitals because no-one had any idea what was going on. They didn't think it was cancer because nothing was showing in his blood then.

"He had no other symptoms, he just came out in marks all over his body, on his head and belly and they would appear and just disappear. It went on for a while, we don't know if the bruises were related but we assume they are. We'd been on holiday and he slept a bit but we thought it was the heat. He was a newborn so we didn't expect anything different and then he was fine.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

The devastating diagnosis came on August 9 (Anna Holland)

"But a week before his diagnosis he was very sleepy and I knew it wasn't right. We went the doctors and they said he had a high temperature and needed to go to hospital, they suspected sepsis but when he went for the lumbar puncture they saw the marks and tested his blood."

Mum Anna is now appealing for people to take a test to see if they're a match for her son - or other people who are urgently in need of a donor. She said: "Please, get tested, you could be a match, if not for us then for someone else. It saves lives. You don't think about it until you're there but a small procedure can save a life."

Francis is currently undergoing 10 days of gruelling chemotherapy. When that is finished, he will have a second round, after which it's hoped Francis will be able to undergo the lifesaving bone marrow transplant.

Anna continued: "When we got the diagnosis we were devastated. But we were glad to have answers because we didn't know what was up with him. It was the worst news in that moment but you battle through because he's a baby, he needs positivity around him so you have to mask your feelings.

"But mums have that instinct and so if you think something is up, don't stop, continue to push for answers. You're not silly for doing it, don't stop until you know."

Aaliyah Rugg