New cancer battle for young Logan

Logan Gallagher, from Ince, was just four years old when he was diagnosed with B-cell leukaemia but went into remission following treatment.

But last Thursday, a routine blood test showed that Logan, now seven, had developed a tumour on his lungs and he was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia.

The Scholes St Catharine’s CE Primary pupil is currently being treated at Manchester Children’s Hospital and will have to undergo chemotherapy again before he has a bone marrow transplant.

His big brother, Lee Gallagher, said: “The first time he was diagnosed with B-cell leukemia but this time it is T-cell leukemia which we have been told is quite uncommon. It has caused a massive tumour on his lungs. It is heart-breaking.

“At the moment he is in steroids to get rid of the tumour and then he will start chemotherapy and he will need a bone marrow transplant in the coming months.

“Everything is very positive. We have been told it is just as treatable as it was the first time around. He will need a transplant because there is something really wrong with his bone marrow which is why the leukemia has come back.

“He had been doing really well. He had just done the Race for Life, he has been fine for two years.

“They were doing a routine blood test which he has every two weeks when they found the cancer had returned. He had been a little tired again. The first time he was really tired and he had been a little again but nothing like last time. He had seemed really healthy.

“He is still the same, he has been playing on the ward. He is still smiling and laughing. He has just become an uncle to three-week-old Ellis and a visit from him has cheered him up.”

Logan now faces months’ more treatment to rid him of the cancer again, meaning a dream holiday that Lee, brother Craig, dad to baby Ellis, and mum Tracey had fund-raised for will have to be delayed for a further three years.

“They admitted him straight away on Thursday and we have no idea how long he will have to stay but we think it will be a few months,” said Lee. “When he has the transplant he will stay in isolation for six weeks and then he will need to stay in semi-isolation at home where he won’t be allowed visitors for six months. It is a long process but I am sure it will all work out fine.

“They are saying it will be another three years of treatment so when it is all over he is going to be 10 and have spent six years of his life dealing with it.

Logan’s school will be holding a Be Seen in Green day on July 1 to raise money for Manchester Children’s Hospital. To keep up to date with Logan’s treatment, visit the Loving Logan Facebook page.