{"id":458826,"date":"2026-03-05T11:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/458826\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T11:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:49:07","slug":"childrens-cancer-diagnosis-brings-welsh-parents-together-as-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/458826\/","title":{"rendered":"Children’s cancer diagnosis brings Welsh parents together as family"},"content":{"rendered":"

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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lacie was four when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-458826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}