Jack Henshaw was born at approx 5.20AM on September 18 2011, to Paula and Dave. He was everything we had ever wanted, a special little boy for us and he was the first grandchild for both our parents, so it was inevitable he was going to be spoilt rotten.
Jack started to grow into a fantastic little boy, he started nursery at around 8 months old and was fast making friends. He was always playing, having fun and was an absolute superstar of a son to us.
As time went by, Jack started to turn into the Jack everyone loved, cheeky, chatty and always the life and soul of the party. Even a such a young age he had his own personality and everyone loved him. He had endless hours playing with his favorite toys
- powerangers, pirates and all kinds of animal toys. Jack also loved nursery and all his friends, before he passed away he manged two weeks at primary school and he was so happy to walk into school on his first day. He loved being around other children.
Everything was going along great until mid 2004, Jack had small complaints about stomach pains and we noticed a small lump in his neck. Neither of these things alarmed us greatly but slowly the pains grew and we took Jack to his Doctor. Jacks Dr couldn't
come up with anything and eventually we were booked in at our local hospital for test's. By now we had started to worry about possible outcomes but nothing prepared us for the news. On August 13th 2004 we were now in The Borchardt ward at Machester childrens
hospital and we were told Jack had cancer - Neuroblastoma stage 4. We had never even heard of NB and it hit us hard, that one word during a 20 minute caht with Jacks consultant ripped our lives apart.
Jack initially underwent months of Chemo treatment, which also included 2 major surgery's and 4 weeks in isolation after stem cell transplantation. Jack seemed to respond well to the treatment and like most of the children we met, he just took the treatment
in his stride. Sadly Jack relapsed in mid 2006, at that time we had very few options and after some treatment Jack sadly passed away in the early hours of October 6th in his mums arms.
Jack packed so much into his short life, everytime he walked into a room, he lit it up with laughter. Even while in isolation at Pendlebury hospital, he kept the doctors and nurses amused and on thier toes with his infectous play and laughter. All through
his treatment Jack never let it get him down and even the hospital trips were turned into one long play session.
During the last few months myself and Paula split up but again Jack just took it in his stride.
For the following years we both struggled badly and I really found life hard and hit rock bottom. In late 2009 I was asked to join a page on Facebook called Families against neuroblastoma. Straight away I knew I had found something that could help me.
While Jack was having treatment I felt helpless and as though all the world was against me. In FAN, i met people who felt the same as me and I also found that I could start to give something back and help families that were put in our position to not make
the same mistakes that I did. Meeting other families and children drove me to start to get my life straight and with this in mind I agreed to do the Everest Trek in late 2010 with the FAN flag. Probably the most important thing I will ever do in my life.
I want to be able to help others put in our position, when Jack was diagnosed we knew nothing, FAN has been instrumental in giving current children undergoing treatment more chance of survival due to the expertise there is within the group. Through Jack's
name I want other familes to have more chance than we did.
There is not a single day that I and Paula do not think of Jack and he is missed by everyone who met him, he touched many people and lives on inside us all.
Or you can donate directly to the Natwest bank, account number: 88712923 Sort Code: 55-81-28.
For further details on ways to donate please visit www.familiesagainstneuroblastoma.org.
