Harrison was born a healthy baby weighing 8lb 1oz, he grew as any child would and was into everything. He was learning new things every day and the suddenly he woke up one morning not being able to move his left arm, i thought he has laid on it awkwardly but after a couple of hours there was no improvement. I took him to our local hospital and they informed me that he had got a trapped nerve. I left the hopsital feeling not very happy, to me he wasn't showing the signs of a trapped nerve.I was told to take him back in 2 days if still no better. SO 2 days later we were back there. This time they took x-rays, they said nothing showed up so again sent me home reassuring me it was a trapped nerve that would get better on it's own. After a week it was no better and I wasn't happy, call it a mothers instinct. I took him to my GP who referred us to a specialist straight away. The specialist was one I had visited a few months earlier so I trusted him In the few days that we had to wait to see the specialist Harrison's left shoulder area became very swollen and on the day of our appointment I noticed a lump had formed under his armpit. The specialist examined Harrison and informed us that this was not a straight forward nerve problem and that he wanted to refer us but wasn't sure who to. He said he would make enuires and contact us, in the meantime he arranged for us to attend an ultrasound scan the following week as also to have a nerve test conducted. We left the appointment with our heads spinning. The day of the ultrasound came and in the back of my mind I was already preparing myself for bad news, I had guessed that this was some form of tumour. The dr who carried out the scan tried her best to reassure us but I could tell from her body language this was something serious. She phoned our specialist straight away. She told us to go home and he would be in contact with us. By the time we got home which was a 5 min drive from the hospital the specialist had phoned me. He told me that he had arranged for Harrison to be transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital and an oncology dr from there would be intouch with an appointment. My head was spining with questions all of which couldn't be answered. I felt so helpless. Dr Brock from GOSH contacted me the following day to tell me that we had to go up there the next day for more ultrasounds, x-rays and a consultation with herself. She told me to pack a day bag for Harrison only. So Thursday 30th August me, Harrison and his dad made the journey to GOSH. We had the x-ray and scans carried out (luckily for me their was a friendly face waiting for us in ultra sound as an old family friend works in this department.)Then we headed to the oncology day centre for the results and to see the consultant. After the initial examination and reports from the scans the DR informed us that Harrison had an extremly big tumor and they needed to carry out futher tests. She had got Harrison a bed on the oncology ward we were told we would be in there for around 10 days. At this point we didn't have time to think or fall apart, everything happened so quickly. We were taken to the ward and filled in all the paper work, Harrison was started on Morphine straight away for the pain and had numerous blood tests carried out. Later that afternoon we were told that a slot had become avaliable for Harrison to have a biopsie done the following morning, they were also going to insert a Hickman line. We were informed that even if the tumour wasn't cancerous, Harrison would have to undergo Chemo because of the size and area that the tumor was in, iot was to dangerous to operate on whilst so big. The fololowing day Harrison underwent the op for the biopsie and hickman line, everything went well and after 2 hours back on the ward he was up and playing. Next we had an MRI scan done under aneasthectic due to his age. Whilst having the MRI scan done he had an allergic reaction to the contrast dye and stopped breathing, thanks to the quick response of the staff they got Harrison breathing again but as aresult he suffered a collapsed lung and was rushed into surgery for a chest drain to be put in. A few days later we were told that the biopsie had come back inconclusive, all they could tell us was that we were dealing with cancer but they didn't know what type so Harrison underwent another biopsie. On Tuesday 12th September Harrison was diagnosed with a Rhabdoid Tumour, we were told that this was a very aggressive form of cancer. They couldn't tell us success rates as it is a relatively new form of cancer and the chemo protocol that he would be on had only been introduced in the last 3 years. But I wasn't happy with that and googled it. I found out from that the success rate in America was very poor. Harrison put up a very good fight against the cancer and also all the infections he came down with, Our 10 day stay at GOSH turned out to be 7 weeks, then we didn't get to go home we were transferred back to our local. Out of 31/2 months treatment Harrison only made it home for 6 days and 22 hours. We were constantly in GOSH or our local hospital. In November we recieved some good news. The tumour had responded so well to hemo, more than any dr had expected we were now in a position to have the surgery, We knew that he would never regain the use of his arm as too much nerve and muscle damage had been done. But at last we could breath a sigh of relief, it looked like Harrison was going to beat the cancer and be one of the few survivors. Then In Decmeber Harrison suddenly took a turn for the worse and was placed ont he critical list. He was suffering from a very serious infection and was septic. But agian he started to beat this but he still wasn't right. His eyes started to roll all the time and he became very floopy, like a new baby again. The Dr's ran several tests every day but nothing could be found, They decided to stop his morphine and ketamine to see if this mad an improvement in him. IT didn't. 3 hours after this had been stopped Harrison became extremly ill, and an emergency CT scan was carried out. The scan showed he had got too much fluid onhis brain and we were told that the neuro surgeons would be in to talk to us about the OP and for us to sign the consent form. As we got back to the ward with Harrison he stopped breathing. Within a minute every member of specialised staff was in his room trying to save his life, many satff had to come from various areas of GOSH. They couldn't get Harrison breathing again and he was out on a ventilator, we were warned that he may not make it through surgery but it was a risk we had to take so he was rushed into surgery. He pulled through the operation but was taken straight in to ITU. Whilst undergoing surgery our consultant had come in to see us, she had explained to us that from the CT scan they had seen white areas on his brain, she believed this to be cancer. I knew then that we had lost our son. The following day our worst fears were confirmed through an MRI scan, it was cancer on his brain and there was nothing more the staff could do. We had to make the chioce of when to switch his ventilator off. Time wasn't on our side and this had to be done within the next 24-48 hours. We chose to switch it off the following day. Harrison's 7 year old sister was there with us as well as our immedite family and Harrison's god parents when we switched his ventilator off. We had been warned that he would more than likely slip away straight away but he didn't. Like he had all the way through his cacner he continued to fight for a further 1hour and 22 minutes. Harrison Martin passed away on Tuesday 11th December 2007 at 4.22pm aged 171/2 months old.