23 Sep 2026

“You adapt to a new normal because life is never the same again.”

Josh Roberts

“I wrote the book I needed to read as we began travelling down a road no child should ever have to.”

When her son was diagnosed with leukaemia, Chrissie Roberts found herself suddenly thrown into a new world of fear and uncertainty. She’s now taken everything she learnt and put it into a book to help other parents.

Eight-year-old Josh’s symptoms began in early 2021. Chrissie noticed he was pale, tired, had no appetite and kept getting infections.

“He complained he had achy legs – he would point to them and rub them,” said Chrissie, 36, who lives with Josh, husband Matt, and Josh’s younger sister Elaina in Urmston, Manchester. “We used to go on nature walks as a family and he would tire very quickly and say he wouldn’t walk any further. I thought he was just being a kid and didn’t want to do it. But then we went out for the day and he ended up just crying in pain and it wouldn’t stop.

“We contacted the GP but due to covid only phone consultations were offered. The first time we were told it was probably a virus, the second time the same. The third appointment suggested maybe an iron deficiency. They ordered a non-urgent blood test – the referral came through two weeks later, for an appointment three weeks after that.”

Josh during treatment

However, Josh’s symptoms rapidly deteriorated ahead of the appointment when he woke up one morning upset and nauseous. As he went to be sick in the bathroom he was in so much pain he couldn’t climb the stairs. Chrissie rang 111 and was told to go straight to A&E at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

The hospital immediately admitted Josh and gave him blood tests. His haemoglobin was low so he was given two blood transfusions, and on Monday 1^st March 2021 the family were told it was likely Josh had leukaemia. This was confirmed two days later as T-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL).

“My first reaction was just disbelief, followed by intense fear on what would happen to him. I felt utterly devastated and alone, but then determined to get through it, to support him and make sure he didn’t have to feel scared; that was one of the biggest things that I was worried about.”

Josh immediately started on his first round of chemotherapy.

Josh in hospital

“He became very nauseous quickly and vomited a lot. He needed several blood transfusions. By the end of the first induction phase, a lot of his hair had fallen out and he could barely stand with how weak and skinny he was.

“Josh got to go home after six weeks as he had achieved remission. But he went back into hospital for a lumbar puncture for a test, and as he woke up from the anaesthetic he had a seizure. An MRI found a huge blood clot in his brain that had started to bleed. That evening he had another seizure that wouldn’t stop so they put him in an induced coma.

“I thought we were going to lose him right there and then. I think the nurses and doctors weren’t sure he was going to make it either. He was in the coma for a few days on blood thinning injections. The bleed stopped relatively quickly but they were trying to get rid of the clot. It worked, but when he woke he was very weak and was not himself for a long time. We spent six more weeks in hospital, during which time he also caught norovirus. He lost so much weight he was like a skeleton and could barely walk.”

Josh had a naso-gastric tube inserted to give him some nutrition and gradually started to put on weight. Eventually he was allowed home.

“I had to give up my job as a teaching assistant for about two years. I’m glad to say I am back to it now, but at the time it was impossible to work. We were in and out of hospital all the time with temperature spikes and other issues, and I needed to be at home to continue to care for him.

“His dad Matt was an assistant head in a primary school at the time. I would do the weekdays in hospital and then he’d do the weekends. But it became very disorientating for Elaina who became very anxious. She began to hate being separated from us, even being dropped off at school. The Macmillan nurse helped us to explain to her that Josh’s blood was poorly and he was having medicine for it but she was only six and didn’t understand properly. She was very protective of Josh as well, giving him all her cuddly toys to help him get better. She’s 11 now and still has significant health anxiety. A year ago she had a raised lymph node in her neck from a virus. We had a very thorough check and it was all fine but she was convinced she had cancer.”

Josh slowly began to rebuild his strength.

“He missed the majority of Years 4 and 5 in school but rebuilt his strength and achieved 60% attendance in Year 6 during maintenance. The school got something called an AV1 robot which would sit on his desk at school and be controlled by Josh through an iPad. Josh activated a flashing light on top of its head to alert the teacher if he wanted to put his hand up to speak or answer a question, show emojis on how he was feeling, and close its eyes if he needed to leave his desk at home at all. It was incredible and really benefitted him as he felt he was part of the class.

“He’s at high school now, doing really well and has caught up with everything. He is autistic and has an eclectic group of friends but he’s doing most things a normal 13-year-old would. His autism meant he was actually really sociable in hospital and would talk endlessly to the doctors. They were really good with him and went along with things like his obsessions with Pokémon! We had a separate room so it wasn’t noisy. And they also gave us appointments with the psychologist about his needle phobia. We only discovered this when he started treatment – I used to have to hold him down while he screamed for every injection or blood test. But after loads of sessions with the psychologist he has reached a place where he can breathe through it and accept it.”

While Josh has maintained the remission he reached within six weeks, he continues to live with the after-effects of the chemotherapy which doctors believe caused the blood clot.

“He has epilepsy although that is considered controlled. We got to 10 months before he had a seizure recently. He also has avascular necrosis in his hip. This has caused the top of his right femur to crumble. Thankfully he had hydrotherapy and exercises which means he has enough muscle to cushion it. He sometimes needs a wheelchair but is mostly mobile and doesn’t have much pain although he will need a hip replacement in the future. Understandably he’s more reliant on us than many other kids that age. This means he’s not the type who wants to be on his own and sit in his room all day, he wants to be with us, so that’s a positive!

“He loves cooking and has ambitions to run his own catering business. He recently cooked Italian pasta, garlic bread and salad for 15 of us at a family gathering. He really enjoys seeing people enjoy his food.”

Josh during recovery

Chrissie wanted to capture the experiences she’d been through in the hopes that it would help other parents and wrote Standing T-ALL: A mother’s journey through childhood cancer. Using notes and Facebook posts she made throughout Josh’s treatment, it was published in March 2026.

“I’ve not shied away from how difficult it was. Lots of people said to me you have to be positive – I wanted to be but at the same time there was still a lot of emotions that weren’t positive and were very difficult. I’ve heard back from one fellow parent, who said it was great to read something that felt real and wasn’t sanitised. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom and I wrote about the pockets of joy we had. I wrote the book I needed to read as we began travelling down a road no child should ever have to. Despite the wreckage, you have to keep going and keep loving.

“We try to make lots of happy memories together. We are also religious and feel God helps us. There is very much a ‘before leukaemia’ and ‘after leukaemia’ feeling for all of us. You adapt to a new normal because life is never the same again.”