13-year-old boy from Newark who survived cancer during coronavirus pandemic finishes Leukaemia treatment at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and gives hope to others

A boy who has beaten leukaemia after a 3½ -year battle now wants to give hope to others.

Logan Carpenter, now 13, was diagnosed when he was nine, just a few weeks into the first national coronavirus lockdown in April 2020.

But after three tough years for him and his family, he has now finished his treatment and been given the all-clear.

It is tradition among cancer patients to ring a bell at the end of successful treatment, and it was an emotional moment as Logan chose to ring his bell on the ward where he was treated.

“We are really proud. He’s been on this incredibly horrible journey and he’s come out the other side,” said his dad, Tom.

“He’s such a sweet lad. When he rung the bell, he said the reason he wanted to ring the bell on the ward that he was treated on was to give other kids hope and let them know that there is a way out.

“I know it was difficult for him to go back on that ward because it is associated with a lot of really bad memories, but he just really wanted to be there for the others.”

Logan was diagnosed at the height of the covid pandemic, making the journey especially hard.

“His lymph nodes swelled up and we all had covid so we thought he just had it too, but he deteriorated and deteriorated,” said Tom.

“It was really hard work getting doctors appointments but eventually we went to Kings Mill where they took bloods and they said it was leukaemia.

“He was transferred to Nottingham but was only allowed one family member at the hospital with him at a time. It meant we would have to isolate for ten days if we wanted to swap and in that time I couldn’t see my wife, give her a hug or anything.

“It was tough but it was the same for everybody.

“It was a really difficult, emotional time to be diagnosed”

Logan spent the next 31/2 years in and out of hospital, receiving chemotherapy and treatment on the Teenage Cancer Trust ward at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

In that time Tom, who was a nurse for 13 years, alongside his wife Karen helped care for him when he was at home and educate him when he was too ill to go to school.

“He’d be tired, he’d be vomiting blood, it gave him ulcers throughout his body, and it affected his nerve endings which meant he struggled to walk,” Tom said.

“He just slept. It was heartbreaking and he was in a really bad way.”

Due to coronavirus restrictions, all entertainers, educators and support workers who would normally have helped the child patients on the ward had to stop, putting added pressure onto the hospital staff.

Tom said: “All the nurses and the staff were absolutely amazing and I can’t speak highly enough of them – they were fantastic, empathetic, everything you’d expect. They dragged him through and supported us and gave us the tools we needed to look after him.”

Although he will still have to go for check-ups over the next five years, Logan is now looking forward to enjoying life again and recently passed out as an RAF Air Cadet with Newark 1260 squadron.

“He had to miss out on three years of his life,” said Tom. “There were so many things he couldn’t do. He couldn’t go on school trips, he couldn’t enter any open water, we had to come back from holiday when he got sick and he missed out on his great-grandad’s 100th birthday because he was in hospital.

“He wasn’t able to do all these and there was an emotional toll too, but now he can start to get on with life as normal.

“He smiles all the time, he gets up early and goes to bed late, he just wants to make up for lost time and do everything.”

Throughout, Tom and Karen had the support of Logan’s older brother Jack and their dogs Jaya and Sinsel.

“We’d like to highlight that this is unfortunately the journey that some kids have to go on,” said Joe

“We want parents to make sure they value to time they have with their kids.

“Logan was a bright, bubbly, excitable kid who had all these things put in his way and for years he was just a shell of how he was.

“So if you’re worried about your kids, make sure you follow it through and check it out.

“I think a lot of people think cancer is the end of the world but actually the survival rate is really high.”