Select language:  
1800 620 420
Close menu

Four months old and fighting two different blood cancers

Bronx fighting childhood blood cancer

When bubbly baby Bronx Wilson was just four months old his family was told he had a very rare and often deadly blood cancer.

In the days leading up to his diagnosis, Bronx’s mum, Jen, had noticed a rash on her son’s leg and was worried about his sudden loss of appetite.

She took Bronx to Mt Gambier Hospital where doctors quickly performed blood tests.

Jen was then told that her baby had the very rare and aggressive biphenotypic leukaemia – a deadly combination of both acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Biphenotypic leukaemia has a survival rate of less than 30 per cent.

The Wilson family were from a regional town and were forced to leave their home and relocate to Adelaide with less than 24 hours’ notice after Bronx was diagnosed.

What then followed was six months of gruelling treatment – including five rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

Bronx’s family spent 12 months living in a unit at the Bridgestone Australia Leukaemia Foundation Patient Accommodation Village in Adelaide.

“It’s stressful enough going through Bronx’s journey. Add to that no regular income, plus expenses. It’s just so hard,” Jen said.

“By providing what they do, the Leukaemia Foundation helps ease the stress of so many things we used to take for granted every day.”

Bronx, now three years old, is free from a blood cancer that only an estimated 65 Australians, and more commonly adults, are diagnosed with each year.

This story features as part of September’s Blood Cancer Awareness Month 2019, helping to raise awareness of every blood cancer.