Family living in hope

The family of six-year-old Joel Picker-Spence are keeping their fingers crossed that tests on Wednesday will show he can have a bone-marrow transplant.

His mother, Mrs Ann-Marie Spence, said: “I just want it out of the way. This week is dragging.”

A perfect bone marrow match was found for Joel, of The Meadows, Farndon, but the potentially life-saving transplant could not go ahead after it was found that leukaemia cells had returned.

He had five days of intensive chemotherapy, which ended on Friday, in a bid to destroy the cells.

Mrs Spence said everyone was hoping that the tests next week would reveal there were no leukaemia cells.

This week Joel returned to the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, on Monday and Tuesday for blood transfusions and platelets.

On Wednesday he was kept in hospital because of a raised temperature.

Mrs Spence said he was having antibiotics in case he had an infection but she hoped it was nothing too serious.

He was expected to remain in hospital until at least today.

“The chemotherapy he had last week is hitting him quite badly now,” Mrs Spence said.

“He is tired and has no energy. His whole body is shutting down a bit, but at least we know the chemotherapy is doing what it should be doing, which is a good thing.

“It shows his bone marrow is not producing anything.”

Mrs Spence said if they received good news on Wednesday he would go to Sheffield Children’s Hospital the following week instead of on Thursday, as was originally thought.

She said this was better because it would give Joel extra time to increase his strength in preparation for the transplant.

When asked what would happen if the results showed he could not have a transplant, she said: “We will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

She said Joel was eager to go back to school but any possible return to the Mount School for a few hours would not now happen.

“The last thing we want is for him to get something before the bone marrow transplant,” she said.

Mrs Spence said Joel enjoyed the fun day and thanked everyone who attended and helped to organise the day.

They included friends Mrs Theresa Miller, Mrs Caroline Parker.

Joel’s godmother, Miss Kathryn Middleton (37) of Beech Avenue, Newark, also helped.

Mrs Spence said Joel had been using the laptop.

He was also given a firefighter’s helmet, and a teddy bear dressed as a fireman that he insisted on taking to hospital with him.