Harvey is Riding Big for Little Kids like him

Harvey was usually a healthy, active, rambunctious two-year-old. But in 2016, he was constantly sick and no matter what his parents did, he just couldn’t get well.

In November, he lost the ability to walk. Despite this being alarming, Harvey’s parents were assured that it was just a virus and that he’d recover.

When the Melbourne Asthma storm struck, Harvey was unsettled, in pain and crying so his parents decided to take him to an afterhours clinic where he had a blood test. From there, they were transferred to Monash Children’s hospital where they were rushed through the emergency department and through to paediatric oncology ward where he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

“The whole thing happened within about twelve hours. He’d lost some weight and had some bruising. But because he was such an active boy, we didn’t think much of it. We didn’t think it would be cancer,” says mum Kate.

Harvey started treatment that day. He was in hospital for two weeks straight. “He was very, very sick. Harvey lost the ability to sit up on his own and lost all his core strength, he was basically a newborn even though he was almost three.”

In just seven days, Harvey had a dozen blood tests, a port installed to his heart because the chemotherapy being administered was so caustic it would collapse his veins, a bone marrow aspiration, lumbar puncture, three general anesthetics and two blood transfusions. This level of treatment would continue for the first few months, with regular visits for blood tests, lumbar punctures and chemo.

After five months of traumatic treatment, he was finally sent home with medication. “We had to have a big whiteboard to keep track of what medications he needed and when.”

Even though Harvey was the one with cancer, his two older brothers Charlie and Alfie, aged four and five at the time, were also hugely impacted. Harvey’s parents would take turns staying at the hospital so that the other could stay home with the other two boys.

“The hospital soon became our second home. During Harvey’s treatment, my husband and I would take it in turns to stay at the hospital to ensure that we could give our two other boys some kind of normality.”

The exhausting juggling act was to try and make sure that they had some stability and ensure they felt safe too. There were many times it was hard for the boys because Harvey might spike a fever and the family would have to change their plans.

“The support staff at the hospital were amazing. They helped us navigate how to communicate to them what their brother was going through without scaring them and gave us so many age-appropriate resources that really helped us guide them through it.”

As Kate describes it, Harvey had a whole team of people looking after him, so they needed to make sure his brothers had a team of people too.
“Childhood cancer is not a door that anyone wants to walk through but once you go through it, there are the most amazing people on the other side. We’re forever grateful for the support we had.”

Kate says that family heard about Camp Quality through a social worker. Although they didn’t take part in any activities for a while, once they did, they didn’t look back.

Charlie and Alfie went to a Wizard of Oz themed Camp, and they couldn’t have had more fun. “They were given so many amazing experiences thanks to the volunteers who gave up their weekends just to help these siblings and kids feel normal again.”

“The camps were amazing. The boys could just be themselves. Just turn up and no one asks about their history. It’s really brought the boys closer together.”

One of Harvey’s first interactions with Camp Quality was having the puppets visit him in hospital. “There were some days when he couldn’t leave his room, but the puppets would entertain through the window. Getting to hear him giggle was the best thing, and it was such a reprieve. Time stands still in hospital, and this really broke up the monotony.”

Harvey is now cancer free and enjoying life as a 10-year-old boy. While he doesn’t remember much about being sick, he does remember the fun things like the Camp Quality puppets, meeting Santa at the Camp Quality Day out in the city.

“We are so grateful for the support of organisations like Camp Quality as they help made our journey much more bearable.”

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