A five-year-old who is undergoing treatment for leukaemia has raised more than £1,600 to support Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG).
Manraj Hans was just three years old when diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in February 2023 and has been receiving treatment since.
During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September, Manraj fundraised for CCLG by selling pin badges, supplemented by the fundraising of other family members.
Manraj’s dad, Narinder, said his family wanted to support CCLG because of the work it does in funding research into finding kinder, more effective treatments, that will not only improve survival rates, but do so without children having to endure both short- and long-term side effects from them.
He added that Manraj is aware from his own experiences of the importance of research in helping other children in the future, having suffered several side effects from his own treatment. These ranged from fatigue to seizures, while he also contracted multiple infections as a result a weakened immune system as a result of the drugs he’s received.
Narinder said:
He knows he wasn't well, and he understands everything, like why he’s having the medicine and that he's not as strong as fast as other children because of challenges he's had.
And he knows that the money we're raising now is going towards research to make things better, and to make sure that you can have medicine that is not as hard to take.
And when we drive it into Cambridge [for his treatment, at Addenbrookes Hospital], you've got the big research centre which we go past and talk about.
We've seen some of the horrible side effects and things that happen, and they can have long term effects.
CCLG are always trying to make them better, with less harsher drugs, and we want to be able to help them change that and that's going to continue.
Narinder spoke of his pride for kind-hearted Manraj’s enthusiasm for, and dedication to, his fundraising. He said:
I’m really, really, really proud that he's been keen to do it and whenever anybody has come over, he’s told them he’s raising money with the badges.
We’re very proud of not only how he's taking his medicine but his understanding and supporting of our fundraising and how he knows that he's helping others as well.
He knows what he's doing is a good thing and understands how it will help.
Narinder explained that as a family, the Hans are determined to keep raising awareness of childhood cancer, as well as funds to support research into finding kinder, more effective treatments. He said:
It’s something we’ll continue, every year really, because cancer has had a significant impact on Manraj.
For me, I'm an ambassador now going forward. It's going to be part of my life to raise awareness. [And fundraising], we'll definitely continue doing it. We'll just think of different things to do in the future.
Manraj is currently on maintenance treatment, due to end in March 2025, with monthly check-ups. He’s now doing well and has been able to return to doing some of the things he enjoyed before his diagnosis that he had to stop during the early part of his treatment.
Narinder said:
He's doing well, and he's started his second year of school now. He's living as much of a normal life as he can, and he wants to get back into some of the sports he was getting into.
He’s started going swimming again. That's something he missed. Now, he wants to go back to playing football which he couldn’t do before because he didn't have the strength in his legs, but he's getting back being able to a live, full normal life.
Morgan Heathfield, of CCLG’s fundraising team, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Manraj for all his amazing efforts in helping us to change the future for other children with cancer.”