Hero tot asked his mum to give his toys to other poorly children just days before he passed away from cancer
Henry was diagnosed with cancer just before his third birthday
OUR Smiles At Christmas appeal launched this week, urging our generous readers to donate money, toys or both to needy children.
Donations will be divided between four charities helping families – , , and the .
Today, we focus on Children With Cancer.
WATCHING her son Henry open his Christmas presents should have been one of Dawn Allen’s happiest memories.
But the moment was tinged with sadness, as her four-year-old had terminal cancer.
Just three days after excitedly getting new toys, Henry Allen passed away following a 20-month fight with neuroblastoma.
Dawn said: “Friends arranged an early Christmas in October 2013 because we knew the end was near.
“Henry was excited to see horses in the garden dressed as reindeer.
“But after opening his presents, he said, ‘I won’t get to play with these toys, Mummy. Give them to other poorly kids’.
“It broke my heart, but it is also why I’m asking generous Sun readers to help kids with cancer this Christmas.”
A quarter of all donations and toys to our Smiles At Christmas appeal will be given to Children With Cancer UK, one of four charities we are supporting.
More than 4,000 children and young people in the UK are diagnosed with the disease each year. Of those, ten die every week.
WHY YOU SHOULD DONATE
AS a trustee of Children With Cancer UK, I have seen first-hand the huge difference it makes.
Sadly, every day in the UK ten families get the devastating news that their child has cancer.
Thanks to research, three out of four young patients now survive, but there is still a long way to go in this fight.
There are still high-risk cancers with poor survival rates. And for survivors, cancer treatments take a heavy toll and can have long-term health effects.
That’s why I’m backing The Sun’s Smiles At Christmas appeal for Children With Cancer UK, to help fund research into kinder treatments which save more young lives.
By LINDA ROBSON, star of TV’s Birds of a Feather
Give cash
Online:
Text: To give £2, text KIDS55 2 to 70070. You can change the amount to £3, £4, £5 or £10 by changing the last figure to 3, 4, 5 or 10.
Post: Send a cheque, made payable to JustGiving Foundation, to JustGiving The Sun Appeal, Bluefin Building 2nd Floor, London SE1 0TA
Give toys
You can donate new or used toys in good condition at 1,370 branches of McColl’s convenience stores.
Toys “R” Us will accept new toys only — look for special Sun trolleys near entrances.
Tell pals
Like our Facebook page
Or tweet using #SmilesAtChristmas to let us know how you’re getting involved!
Dawn said: “Henry loved superheroes and animals, and wanted to be a zoo keeper when he grew up. But the only place he can now do these things is in the sky.
“Moments before he died he said he could now go to Disneyland and wouldn’t be in any more pain. He also made me pinky promise I would help other kids like him.
No child should die from cancer, which is why I’m urging you donate to The Sun’s Christmas appeal.”
Henry was considered a little miracle by parents Dawn, 39, and Mark Allen, 38, a project manager, from Bletchley, Bucks, as they had been told they would never conceive naturally.
But their much-loved son was diagnosed with a vicious cancer of the nervous system four months before his third birthday in 2012.
Dawn recalled: “Doctors thought I was neurotic. I took him to the GP about six times. Each time I was sent away after being told he had a virus or was constipated.
“He looked like a pregnant boy and I knew something was really wrong. I never thought he would have cancer. I used to think cancer happened to old people. My whole world turned upside down.”
The tumours were growing on Henry’s adrenal gland and in his liver, which is why his tummy had swelled so much.
Henry immediately started chemotherapy at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital. He also needed blood and platelet transfusions.
Dawn said: “He would play with his scooter and ride up and down the ward between treatments.
Henry loved superheroes and animals, and wanted to be a zoo keeper when he grew up. But the only place he can now do these things is in the sky
“He needed strong injections sometimes and would scream in pain. They would also make his lips, ears and feet swell. Yet he’d always have a smile for everyone.”
But Henry’s health quickly deteriorated as his treatment failed to stop the cancer spreading. In August he had a four-hour op to cut out as many of the tumours as possible.
WHERE MONEY IS SPENT
THE money you donate to our Smiles At Christmas campaign and given to Children With Cancer UK will be spent on vital research to help create better treatments that improve children’s chances of survival, with fewer side-effects.
It will also help fund activities for children with cancer and their families and provide accomm- odation for parents whose kids are being treated at hospitals far from their homes.
But the cancer had wrapped around one of his main arteries, making it impossible to remove.
Dawn said: “Doctors told us he needed high-dose chemo in isolation to shrink that tumour.
“The chemo was horrific. It made his whole digestive system blister, so he couldn’t eat, drink or go to the toilet like normal.
“It also destroyed his eyesight, so he had to wear glasses and he started going deaf. I started thinking losing him was a possibility.”
Doctors tried new drugs, but Dawn said: “I hoped they would save him but the side- effects were crippling. Each time I signed a consent form I feared it would be the procedure that killed him. It reached a point where the tumours had grown inside his oesophagus and he couldn’t eat.
“He was in so much pain he was administering his own morphine and ketamine.
“Doctors told us he had six weeks to live, there were no treatments left that would save him.
“No words can describe what I felt at that point.
"Henry knew he was dying. He told me, ‘Mummy, no more treatment. Can I go home to my bed and toys?’
“It was then I knew we had to get him home for his final days.”
Although it was only October, Dawn’s friends arranged Henry’s last Christmas. He woke up to the horses dressed as reindeer in his garden covered with fake snow. There was a Father Christmas and presents.
Dawn recalled: “Henry absolutely loved it. But he gained his angel wings a few days later.
“He slipped away on October 20 as Mark and I cuddled him. A double rainbow came out, signalling to me he’d reached his happy place. He was smiling peacefully.
“I knew he was going to a place where there was no pain.”
Dawn, who has since set up the Henry Allen Trust in his memory, said: “No parent should have to lose a child to cancer or watch them go through painful treatments. So, please, Sun readers, give generously this Christmas.
“Research into childhood cancers is absolutely vital. The side-effects are terrible and long-lasting. But this can only change with research funded by your donations.”
Children With Cancer UK founder Eddie O’Gorman said: “We want to invest more in the development of precision medicine.
It would limit the severity of side-effects and help children beat cancer faster.
“Children should not be dying from cancer, but the only way we can stop that is with more funds.”
TRAGEDY LED TO CHARITY
THE charity was founded by Eddie O’Gorman in 1988 after his 14-year-old son Paul died from leukaemia.
It has since funded more than 200 research projects and prog-rammes, at a combined cost of more than £40million.
The charity’s first task was to raise £2million to establish a new leukaemia research centre at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital. It was named after Paul and opened in 1995, followed by others around the UK.
Children With Cancer UK has raised £190million and donates £5million per year to research.
Give cash
Online:
Text: To give £2, text KIDS55 2 to 70070. You can change the amount to £3, £4, £5 or £10 by changing the last figure to 3, 4, 5 or 10.
Post: Send a cheque, made payable to JustGiving Foundation, to JustGiving The Sun Appeal, Bluefin Building 2nd Floor, London SE1 0TA
Give toys
You can donate new or used toys in good condition at 1,370 branches of McColl’s convenience stores.
Toys “R” Us will accept new toys only — look for special Sun trolleys near entrances.
Tell pals
Like our Facebook page
Or tweet using #SmilesAtChristmas to let us know how you’re getting involved!