Axel and big sister Martha
A mother who lost her two-year-old son to cancer today told of the “amazing” care her family received from a children’s hospice.
Elin Solomon said support from Shooting Star Children’s Hospices enabled Axel to die at home and made it easier to grieve.
Axel was diagnosed with brain and spinal cancer in May 2016, aged nine months, and underwent treatment, including chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, at Great Ormond Street hospital. He died on December 23, 2017.
Mrs Solomon, 39, from Oxted, said it was important to her and husband Will, 41, that Axel was comfortable at home and “not prodded, not pushed around, and not in hospital”.
The family, including daughter Martha, five, first received respite care from the charity’s Christopher’s hospice, in Guildford, in the summer of 2017.
Axel with mum Elin, Martha and dad Will
Mrs Solomon said: “We went there as a whole family and the staff were able to look after him at night, and my husband and I and our daughter had a good night’s sleep. Then we could do some things together during the day. It was amazing.
“The photos we have looking back at that time… they had a soft play and we have beautiful little videos of him rolling down the slide and giggling.”
Its Hospice at Home nurses were able to oversee Axel’s palliative care in his last weeks. A “cold blanket” was provided to enable Axel to remain at home for four days after death.
“The fact that we could sit with him and talk to him and stroke his hair and hold his hand, I think it made the grieving easier – that he wasn’t whisked away from us very soon after he died,” Mrs Solomon said.
She decided to share Axel’s story to promote the Shooting Star Children’s Hospices Christmas campaign, which launched on Monday. Only 10 per cent of the £10m it needs each year comes from Government funding.
Shooting Stars cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions in Surrey and 15 London boroughs.
It also runs Shooting Star House in Hampton, where David and Samantha Cameron’s son Ivan received care.
Mrs Solomon said: “No-one really wants to talk about children who have died but I love to talk about our son. The hospice did so much for us. If sharing Axel’s story can help provide that for other families, then that would leave us with an amazing feeling.”
She added: “When your child has a cancer diagnosis you’re constantly living in combat mode trying to protect him. A sneeze or a cough feels like a deliberate attempt on his life.
“To come to the hospice and have a volunteer ask if we’re planning to use the soft play today because, if so, she’s going to give it an extra clean, means the world.
“It’s an amazing feeling to come across people who show that they understand and care and don’t think we’re neurotic parents.”
rosslydall 