Mum Michelle Bradley and son Sam
THIS WEEK is a busy, and very important week for Sam Bradley.
He is having a CT scan, which will give the doctor’s a proper look at the size and shape of his tumour, and he is also undergoing stem cell harvesting at the Royal Victoria Children’s Hospital in Belfast.
Sam’s dad, Colm explains the scan will determine the type of surgery Sam will have – whether he will have all or part of his kidney removed when doctors remove his tumour – while the stem cell harvesting is for after surgery.
Following surgery, Sam will have very intensive chemotherapy to try and kill all cancer cells left in his little body. But, this will also wipe out all his white blood cells, effectively meaning his immune system will be wiped out.
The stem cells will then be re-introduced to his body to help grow his white blood cells again.
Sam has already undergone chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumour, and he has gone through most of it smiling.
“Sam’s basically having a week of tests. They had to give him a general anaesthetic to conduct the CT scan as you have to stay completely still for this. This was hard for us,” said Colm.
On the campaign side of things, Colm said the response already has been ‘overwhelming’.
“People are contacting us looking to do all sorts of things, and it’s all these small events that will make the difference for us,” continued Colm.
“The idea behind ‘Together for Sam’ is that people can decide to do whatever they want, and do it for Sam. Whether it is ‘cycle’, ‘swim’, ‘walk’ or even ‘Sing for Sam’, all you have to do is contact us for sponsor sheets and away you go.
The concept is you simply replace, ‘together’ with whatever you’re going to do.
“It doesn’t matter how little your idea, or how insignificant you think the amount you raise is, it could make all the difference.”
To contact Colm and Michelle, and find out more about Sam, and about how to fundraise, or if you just would like to donate something all the details are on ‘www.togetherforsam’, or follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
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