A ‘CHEEKY and happy’ little boy from Marston who was given the all-clear in March after going through treatment for leukaemia, is now back in hospital following a relapse.

His parents, struggling with the financial pressures of caring for their son and taking their family back and forth to hospital, are now turning to the community for a little help.

Three-year-old Callum Tolley has only ever known a life of hospitals, chemotherapy and medication, after first being taken ill at just nine weeks old.

Following more than two years of gruelling treatment, Callum was given the all-clear in March this year and was full of smiles when he rang the end-of-treatment bell at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Just five months after that special day, Callum’s mum and dad, Danny and Natalie, were given the news that their son had relapsed and would now need to go through more aggressive treatment than before, and would also need to have a bone marrow transplant.

Danny said: “We thought it was over with and when you find out it’s back it really does hit you hard and all the walls you rebuild come tumbling down.

“A lot of people don’t realise what these innocent little children go through. He takes his medication like a trooper and gets on with it and he’s always smiling, but he does get angry about it sometimes.

“It’s not easy - we also have a six-year-old boy, Lucas, who had just started his summer holidays and then all of a sudden he was going to have to enjoy his summer in hospital. We’ve also just had our third baby boy, Ethan, and it’s amazing having him - he’s a little bundle of joy – but it adds to the stress because it’s something else you need to concentrate on.”

Natalie has had to put her career as a pub manager on hold to become a carer for Callum, and Danny is soon likely to have to take compassionate leave from his job as an IT technician while Callum is in hospital.

Danny and Natalie are striving to keep as much of a normal family life as possible, so instead of being treated in hospital, Callum is being treated as an outpatient – still being able to live at home, but having to visit the hospital every day.

This means that the family are having to travel 40 miles a day, as well as paying for meals at the hospital.

Natalie’s sister Jane Hanley set up a fundraising page for the family to help them get by during this hard time.

And Danny’s sister, Katie Tolley, is now planning on shaving her head to raise money towards it in the near future.

Katie said: “I feel helpless as Callum’s auntie so if shaving my head will raise some money and give a little help to the family, of course it is worth doing.”

Katie is planning on live streaming her head shave on the Baby Callum Facebook page – a page created to share updates on Callum’s treatment.

To donate, go to gofundme.com/470lnfs

This month is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To find out more on how you can help, go to childrenwithcancer.org.uk