A young boy from Co Derry attended his first school's sports day last week after a tough year going through cancer treatment.
Niall Donaghy, six, from Ballykelly was diagnosed with leukemia in March of last year after complaining of having a sore leg for a number of months and quickly underwent an intensive course of treatment that left him in intensive care.
Speaking to Belfast Live, his mum Elle said that she had taken her son to the doctor a couple of times prior to his diagnosis due to the pain that he was in and it was not until their third visit that they got the life-changing news.
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Elle said: "At the end of 2021, Niall had started complaining of having a very sore leg and we couldn't understand what was causing the issue. Being a young boy he could have hurt himself playing, but we were not aware of him falling or hurting himself.
"I took him to A&E a couple of times, as he couldn't get an X-ray through his GP and on the second visit he was given a compression bandage to try and help him, but the pain just kept getting worse and worse.
"Then one day when he was unable to go on a bike ride with us due to the pain in his legs, I decided to take him into hospital and hopefully get to the bottom of the problem.
"At first I thought that we were going to be sent home again, but one doctor suggested that they carry out a blood test due to the limp Niall had developed and then a few hours later, after I was told to call my husband and ask him to come to the hospital, we were told the devastating news that Niall had cancer.
"A few hours later we were being admitted to the Children's Hospital in Belfast and preparing for him to start treatment."
Over the next few days Niall would begin a course of intensive cancer treatment, the start of three and a half years worth of treatment, which proved to be very tough on the young boy.
His liver and brain developed problems with swelling and Niall was unable to see or talk properly for a number of weeks due to complications caused by this and was admitted to intensive care.
He also started to have seizures with the family later being told that Niall had developed a form of epilepsy.
Elle continued: "The first intensive treatment proved to be very hard on Niall and his body with him having issues with a swollen liver and brain.
"It was a very worrying time for us when he had to go down to intensive care, but we are just thankful that he managed to get through it.
"As a result of the swelling, he started to have severe seizures and has now developed a type of epilepsy which he also found difficult to manage at first as the medication that he was put on caused him to develop mood swings and made him feel unwell all day. But now he is on new medication and doing much better."
Niall still takes a nightly chemotherapy treatment as his battle against leukemia continues, however the six-year-old has made a lot of progress and took part in his school sport's day last week, much to his parent's delight.
Elle continued: "I think that I have cried more in the past three weeks than I had over the previous year, all of the emotions have been coming through now that things are starting to settle down and return to normality.
"Now that he is able to play without feeling sick and even take part in his school's sports day, I am just so happy to see how far that he has come after all that he has been through."
At the end of June Elle and colleagues from her work, Onesource Virtual, will take part in the Hard as Oak challenge in order to raise funds for the Children's Cancer Unit Charity, Belfast.
Elle said: "I am so thankful to all of the doctors and nurses who have supported us since Niall's diagnosis, they have gone above and beyond to look after us all and I don't know how we can ever repay them for how they have helped our son.
"As a way of trying to give back to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, my colleagues at Onesource Virtual have chosen the Children's Cancer Unit Charity, Belfast, as our chosen charity for the year and we will be fundraising for them at a number of events, with our next one being the Hard as Oak challenge at the end of June.
"It will be a tough challenge to take part in, but it is the least that I could do after everything that the staff on the cancer unit did for Niall and our family."
Elle also offered some advice to parents who have concerns about their children's health, telling them to trust their instincts and keep fighting if they have any worries.
She said: "If there are any parents out there who have concerns about their children and think that there is something not quite right they need to trust that feeling and keep pushing until you get the answers that you need.
"I cannot imagine how bad things could have got for Niall if we didn't keep fighting for him because at first we thought that it could have been a problem with his hip that was causing so much pain.
"As a parent you know your child best and if your gut is telling you something, don't give up."
If you would like to donate to the Onesource Virtual fundraiser for the Children's Cancer Unit Charity, please follow this link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/onesource-virtual-1683806469233?utm_source=copyLink&utm_medium=one_page&utm_content=page/onesource-virtual-1683806469233&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=1c1556e6593d49e7993ab76a3a1429c3
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