An 11-year-old boy was diagnosed with a rare type of childhood cancer after experiencing symptoms of an ear infection.
Ilan Choudhury, now 14, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in the summer of 2022 after going back and forth to his GP.
His father, Niaz, 51, said his son had undergone several courses of antibiotics, but symptoms of an infection, including some bleeding from his ears, kept on returning.
“It was the summer of 2022, when Ilan was 11, that he started getting tummy pain, and pains everywhere,” Niaz said.
“He had bleeding from the ears; it shifted between the left and right ear. We were back and forth to A&E for around 6-8 weeks. At that point they said he had an ear infection.
“He was getting a temperature on and off and he had lost quite a bit of weight; he was unable to eat. He had always been a very good eater, but then he reduced down to just nibbling food.”
After weeks of searching for answers, a blood test revealed that he had leukaemia, and would need to begin treatment immediately.
“We had a feeling something wasn’t right, but nothing prepares you for that diagnosis. Not in your wildest imagination do you expect something like that.”
After the diagnosis, “life changed overnight” for Ilan and his family, who stayed in Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) as he underwent intensive chemotherapy.
Over the first six months of his son’s treatment, Niaz said he spent less than two weeks in total at their own home in North London.
Christmas was also spent at the hospital that year, though Niaz recalls the hospital ensuring children still felt the festive spirit, with visits from Santas and superheroes.
By March 2023, there were no signs of the disease and Ilan rang the end-of-treatment bell later that year. Life began to return to normal for Ilan, who got reconnected with his love of cycling.
However, test results in October 2024 revealed he had relapsed and the leukaemia had returned. Ilan had his Hickman line put in again in October 2024 and he is currently undergoing intense chemotherapy at GOSH.
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“We are back to square one, but we have to soldier on. There is hope at the end of the tunnel,” Niaz said, adding that the “talent and expertise” from staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital has helped support them.
He is helping GOSH Charity raise £300m to build a new Children’s Cancer Centre at the hospital, to help thousands of children like Ilan.
The new facility will be built with new inpatient wards, a new hospital school and access to clinical trials for families with few treatment options.
Niaz said: “As a parent, when Ilan got diagnosed, I looked at all treatment options under the sun. As a former immunologist, I knew where to look as well, and GOSH absolutely was the best option, not just in the UK but on a world scale.”
GOSH Charity’s Build it. Beat it. appeal is raising £300m to build a new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH, which will give more children with cancer the best chance possible. To find out more or to donate, visit gosh.org/cancer
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