Nurse's training a 'blessing and curse' after son, 3, diagnosed with rare cancer

A paediatric nurse whose three-year-old son has an aggressive form of cancer says her medical knowledge has "been a blessing and a curse" as she watches him face "unimaginable things".

Sarah Sloman, from Newport, said her son Teddy had been through "a horrendous 12 months" since being diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare type of childhood cancer.

Having spent 20 years treating children at work, Sarah said the situation held an "uncanny" resemblence to news she's delivered to "countless parents" in her professional life.

She's now trying to raise £250,000 to fund the next phase of Teddy's treatment, which is not currently available in the UK.

Sarah said Teddy had gone through a gruelling course of treatments over the past year, including intensive chemotherapy, surgery, a stem cell transplant and radiotherapy in London.

He has also faced complications, including a severe reaction to one of the immunotherapy drugs which meant he had to stop it.

"Part of me has just gone into work mode... it has become 24-hour shifts and just doing what we need to do to get Teddy through this," she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"But he always wakes up with a smile on his face so that's the thing that keeps us going, his strength and determination to beat this horrendous disease."

A maintenance drug called difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), which could prevent Teddy relapsing, has been withdrawn from the NHS by the US-based company which owns it following a clinical trial.

"The treatment we've had up until now is all about sort of attacking the cancer and killing off the tumour," Sarah said.

"This next part is a maintenance phase... it teaches the body to eliminate [specific cells] before it can turn into anything sinister."

Now, the family is trying to maximise the options available to them when Teddy progresses to needing this next phase of his treatment in October.

"This is what is so difficult with our current situation, is we have no definite answers at the moment," said Sarah.

"We could potentially buy [DFMO] from America and have it imported to us here in the UK. There is a vaccine trial in New York, in America, which we would have to go there and stay, or there's an even newer trial going on in Rome.

"But all of these things need their medical teams to accept us as their patient, so we've started the ball rolling for all three options to see which one we would be accepted for and which would be the best course of treatment."

The family has so far managed to raise £50,000 of their £250,000 goal.

Sarah said Teddy's illness had also affected his younger brother Joey, who was born two months premature is and now 18 months old.

"He's barely known life with his mum and dad at home," Sarah said, as they spend so much time at hospitals.

Sarah said her training had, in some ways, helped her cope, but also meant she knows "what that means in reality... the statistics we're facing... the chances of surviving".

"I've been caring for sick children for most of my working life," she said.

"I, as a student, gave a family almost identical news when I was training 20 years ago.

"It's uncanny the resemblance to this particular situation. To be stood in that cubicle on the ward that day, to receive that news from a student nurse, a qualified nurse and a doctor, it just felt like an out of body experience.

"I wouldn't wish this past 12 months on anyone."