Nate was first diagnosed with cancer following a period when he was sick at exactly the same time every morning, caused by a tumour, which created extra pressure in his head.

A week before Nate’s 4th birthday, surgeons operated on him and managed to safely remove over 90% of his tumour. The next process was to harvest his own stem cells for use while in recovery from high dose chemotherapy. During this period, the doctors were hoping that his brain’s ventricles would recover on their own. However, they didn’t and Nate’s abilities to perform normal functions began to suffer.

At this point, the pressure in his brain was at a dangerous level, so the doctors had to fit a shunt which will stay with him for life and grow with him. When he had recovered from this procedure, Nate began Tomotherapy (targeted radiation treatment), which he found hard and caused sickness. This was followed by chemotherapy, which caused his hair to fall out and some hearing loss.

Nate is now in a chemotherapy cycle, his sickness is under control and is starting to gain weight, which is very positive. Most importantly though, Nate is now at home with his family, and his cuddles teddy has pride of place in his bed.

If you can, please reach out to another child like Nathaniel so we can send them a warm cuddle.