{"id":515774,"date":"2026-03-05T10:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515774\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:32:10","slug":"we-are-one-big-happy-family-but-none-of-us-wanted-to-be-part-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515774\/","title":{"rendered":"We are one big, happy family – but none of us wanted to be part of it"},"content":{"rendered":"

They are one big, happy family who are planning a holiday abroad together – but nobody wanted to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

Sarah Kent and Jess John probably would never have met each other or been friends in their normal lives.<\/p>\n

But the pair now describe themselves as inseparable having supported each other as their young children battled cancer.<\/p>\n

Around 1,900 children under 14 are diagnosed with cancer annually in the UK, with leukaemia being the most common type, according to Cancer Research UK.<\/p>\n

“We all became a family. A family none of us wanted to be a part of but a family we couldn’t be without,” said Sarah.<\/p>\n

“The ward can be very isolating. I met another mother in the kitchen. We struck up a conversation and I was invited to join their WhatsApp group.”<\/p>\n

The chat opened up a whole new world to her, and created a network of support in her darkest hours after receiving the bombshell news her son Vinnie, who was four, had cancer.<\/p>\n

He had started feeling unwell, and after months of going back and forth to the GP, they were given the worst news imaginable.<\/p>\n

On 27 November 2023, Vinnie was diagnosed with leukaemia, and needed to start immediate treatment.<\/p>\n

Sarah, 33, from Bridgend, said: “You walk into a world you’d never imagine being a part of.<\/p>\n

“A world of hospital appointments, chemotherapy, low immune systems, the complete unknown.”<\/p>\n

\"Vinnie,<\/p>\n

Vinnie is due to finish all of his treatments in 2027 [Sarah Kent]<\/p>\n

It was at the Noah’s Ark children’s hospital in Cardiff where Sarah met the “bravest children” and their families who were on the same journey.<\/p>\n

After what she described as “a horrendous nine months”, she was told her son was not responding to the chemotherapy and they would have to try something else.<\/p>\n

Vinnie started a treatment called Blinatumomab<\/a> – a targeted immunotherapy administered over 24 hours a day for 28 days at a time.<\/p>\n

It required Vinnie to wear a large backpack during this time.<\/p>\n

While it was a daunting prospect, this treatment was something Jess’ daughter Lacie had started some time before.<\/p>\n

“When you’ve got people that are going through the same thing, the bond hits completely different. The mums there know how we feel,” added Sarah.<\/p>\n

\"Lacie,<\/p>\n

Lacie has finished her treatments and will now have check-ins with consultants over the next few years [Jess John]<\/p>\n

Lacie was four when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia,<\/a> an aggressive form of blood cancer.<\/p>\n

Her mum Jess, 37, noticed a lump on her daughter’s neck and how she was not being herself.<\/p>\n

Over seven months, the family were told by doctors it was viral, or she had a cold.<\/p>\n

Jess said: “It was horrible because Lacie was presenting so many signs before of just being ill.<\/p>\n

“I never, ever thought of cancer, that never even entered my mind.”<\/p>\n

It was not until Lacie had a high temperature that she was taken to Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Cardiff and had a blood test.<\/p>\n

“Being told Lacie had cancer just shattered our world and it was just, it was heart-breaking,” said Jess.<\/p>\n

Three days after diagnosis, Lacie had surgery and started chemotherapy two hours later.<\/p>\n

At that time another child who lives near to Jess and Lacie was also diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n

“We’ve become inseparable. When the girls weren’t allowed to socialise we made the decision we would isolate them together. We made a bubble,” added Jess.<\/p>\n

“The other families have been an amazing support. I can’t do life without them basically, and the children get on so well.”<\/p>\n

The mothers set up a WhatsApp group which they use every day to chat.<\/p>\n

Not just about their children but all aspects of life.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got friends who are not in a part of this world, but they don’t understand on the level that the families do that I’m friendly with,” said Jess.<\/p>\n

Over the last couple of years the mothers have participated in charity runs and the dads have taken on a skydive together.<\/p>\n

The families now go on nights out, organise safe play dates for their children and go on holidays together.<\/p>\n

Jess said: “We are planning a big group holiday abroad when all the children have finished their treatments.<\/p>\n

“It’ll just continue and I can just see us doing more and more things together.”<\/p>\n

Dr Simon Ridley, director of research and advocacy at Leukaemia UK, said: “It’s heart-warming to see that Lacie, Vinnie and their families have found support in this special group of friends.<\/p>\n

“But their stories are a powerful reminder of the huge impact leukaemia can have on children and their families.”<\/p>\n

More top stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They are one big, happy family who are planning a holiday abroad together – but nobody wanted to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[204258,49,48,131974,204260,122855,204257,204259,204256,61,57335,38477],"class_list":["post-515774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ark-children39s-hospital","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cancer-research-uk","tag-happy-family","tag-jess","tag-jess-john","tag-lacie","tag-sarah-kent","tag-technology","tag-vinnie","tag-whatsapp-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}