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Jamie was a little boy who faced a great deal of
trauma in his short life. At just three years old
he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Lueukaemia
(ALL). As parents, we were shocked to learn that
the treatment for this was to be continuous chemotherapy
on a daily basis over a three year period. Chemotherapy
can be administered in various forms, by injection,
intravenously and orally. Jamie's treatment involved
the insertion of a "portocath" this is
basically a line inserted surgically below the armpit
which then is pushed upwards and inserted into the
jugular vein and then down into the heart. This
has to stay in place for the duration of the treatment
as there is a large amount of intravenous medication
placed through it.
As
parents, we felt completely helpless as we watched
our little boy suffer through his treatment. Many
surgical procedures became the norm, including lumbar
punctures and bone marrow biopsies (taken from the
spine and hip joints). Hair loss is a common and
well known side effect of the drugs administered
but Jamie also suffered from severe leg and joint
pains and ulceration of the mouth and the stomach,
both of which are common.
Some
children also have to endure severe, uncrontrollable
mood swings and hunger cravings which are induced
by high dosage steroids used to combat the effects
of chemotherapy. When you see your young child going
through all this it breaks your heart, often we
would have to sign for procedures we knew were going
to be painful for Jamie, but were our only option.
Sadly,
on December 20th 2003, the doctors who were treating
Jamie told us what we already suspected, that Jamie's
cancer had returned despite him still receiving
chemotherapy.
On
Christmas day (which was Jamie's fifth birthday)
we were transferred from Llandough hospital to high
dependency at University Hospital Wales, as Jamie
was suffering heart failure due to the drugs he
was now having to take to combat his illness.
Jamie
fought on with typical tenacity as he had done for
the two years he had undergone treatment, but sadly
on the 13th January 2004 he suffered a seizure and
slipped into a coma. The doctors told us that he
contracted meningitis as a result of having a severely
depleted immune system, and Jamie passed away in
my wife’s arms on 20th January 2004 back at
Llandough hospital.
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It isn’t easy relaying these events,
but after initially falling to pieces, and being
supported by my wife and older son Sam (who has
been amazing even though he is grieving the loss
of his younger brother) I decided it should not
be for nothing that Jamie passed away.....
The
Jam Fund..
To
that end the Jam Fund was established. Our aim is
to raise as much as possible to help children in
Wales and throughout the UK who are suffering from
this awful illness. In the first twelve months,
thanks entirely to the generosity of the public,
we managed to raise £43,000. The total now
(May 2006) stands at £47,500. We have already
donated £30,000 of this, fifteen to each of
two charities we support – LATCH (based at
the children’s hospital for Wales) and CHILDREN
WITH LEUKAEMIA (based at Great Ormond Street London)
This leaves us with a little over £17,000
and we hope to reach £40,000 again this year
which we will use to purchase a top level static
caravan holiday home. This will be named “The
Jamie Adamson Caravan” and sited in the Tenby
area of West Wales. We hope to offer this facility
free of charge to children in Wales and the UK who
are suffering from ANY life threatening illness
or condition and also to any family bereaved through
the loss of a child.
The
pictures you see here of Jamie show you his nature,
he was a very happy little boy despite all he suffered.
This is typical of all the children we were honoured
to meet in our two years in the children’s
cancer unit. If you want to see all that is good
about the human spirit, refer to these children,
they are truly amazing and deserve our support.
We
hope you will feel able to help us, leukaemia kills
more children in Wales and the UK than any other
disease, and although thanks to medical advances
cure rates are improving, alarmingly so is the frequency
of new cases. This is a this is a charity based
in Wales but helping all children in the UK (OUR
children) so please, please help in any way you
can.
I’m
just a dad who had to watch as my son passed away
after enduring more than I ever could with a smile
and a lot of love. Please help us to spare others
the same experience, we hope to fund research as
well. I left my own pride behind when Jamie passed
away and will ask anyone to help in any way possible,
but my pride in my family is immeasurable.
Many
thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope
you will help
make Jamie’s death a little less in vain.
Paul Adamson
TARGET
AND DONATION PAGE HERE
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