Jackson’s favourite colours are blue & red

Jackson lives in Queensland

Biography

Jackson was diagnosed with Acute Lymphobastic Leukaemia (ALL) when he was 17 months old. It was a huge shock as he wasn't even sick, just looking a bit pale. The doctors thought it was good that we had caught it early.

The next eight months were terrible with Jackson having horrible chemotherapy treatments, endless blood test, bone marrow aspirates and lumbar punctures. At one stage we almost lost him due to an adverse drug reaction. He went into remission fairly quickly but the doctors were not confident that they had completely got rid of it and at some stage it would come back and be harder, if not impossible to treat. So in November 2004 we decided to go ahead with cord blood transplant (same as a bone marrow transplant, just using a baby's cord blood). Once again Jackson endured chemotherapy and also radiation so he could have the transplant. He spent 7 weeks in hospital including 3 in total isolation and over Christmas. Luckily Jackson seemed to get through it all pretty well and at day 90 post transplant he was given the all clear.

Since then we have had regular hospital visits with all sorts of specialists to keep a close eye on how Jackson was going. The first side effect to come out was that Jackson finds it hard to eat as his taste is not so good. Due to this he has to be fed at night through a peg in his stomach. Jackson’s personal goal is to get rid of his stomach peg before he reaches high school. He is also small for his age which at times is hard on him.

In November 2010 the respiratory doctor became very concerned with Jackson's lung function and he had a lung biopsy done which was another stay in hospital. He ended up there for a week instead of the one day as he required constant oxygen. The respiratory doctors have diagnosed him as having a serious lung disease which will not improve but hopefully we can stop it getting any worse. After been off all medication for 4 years he is once again having to take them to keep it at bay. What Jackson has now is due to the chemotherapy and radiation he had to have, although the doctor and many others around the world have not seen a case like his, which makes it difficult to know if the treatment will be successful.

As I write this Jackson will be 10 in two months and he is doing really well. He is in Year 4. He shares his story with his class and enjoys playing with his friends. He was able to attend a school camp this year with his class. His lung function improves slightly every month. He is a fighter and hopefully we will get through this. He has shown so much courage over the last 7 years and we are so proud of him.