StemCell Therapy

(Picture: Mercury Press)

On 19 June, Daniel Farbace passed away after contracting parainfluenza, while also battling acute myloid leukaemia. He was just 21 months old.

His mum, Ali Farbace, has shared a photograph of herself kissing her son goodbye as a way to celebrate his life.

His last act was to save us, says Ali, 35, explaining that by passing away, Daniel had saved his parents from the impossible decision to turn off their childs life support.

When people say things like sorry for your loss I dont really like that.

He never lost at anything we think he sacrificed himself for us.

Hes made it a lot easier for us. My feeling was that I wanted him to have quality of life, but it was stacking up against him, it wasnt fair.

We just didnt want him to suffer.

If we had had to make the decision to turn the machine off then we would never have forgiven ourselves. I do think he has saved us from that.

Ali and her husband, Dan, spent nine days with Daniels body after he died, staying to make memories with their child at Demelza Childrens Hospice in Sittingborne Kent from 19 June to 26 June.

On the ninth day, Ali and Dan brought Daniels body home to have a funeral.

It would have broken us to go home straight away with nothing, said Ali. When we got to Demelza it was just perfect. To spend that time with Daniel was lovely.

We sang, and talked to him and read to him. We got so much more time. I didnt want to leave him on his own. He was so beautiful.

He had never spent a day apart from me. He had his own bedroom, he was still a person, and it was so nice to see him without the tubes.

Our friends got to come and visit too, and we really got to say goodbye.

The night before his funeral he came home for the night. We were just glad we could all come home together. To spend our last night together was really nice.

Its cr*p, and wed do anything to have him back, but some children dont get to go home.

Despite being on life support for nine days, Daniels death still came as a surprise.

When he was born on 29 September 2015 at 26 weeks, Daniel had to be resuscitated and was on a ventilator for 16 days. He survived that, went home, but had to return to hospital in April 2016 when his parents noticed pin prick marks on his skin.

Doctors initially thought it could just be a viral rash, but soon lumps developed.

He was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital in April, where doctors investigated possibilities of Daniel having leukemia and neuroblastoma.

On 19 April Dan and Ali were told Daniel had leukemia, with an official diagnosis on 21 April.

It was unusual because the leukaemia was presenting as something else, said Ali.

They told us it was treatable, they gave him a 68 to 72 per cent chance he would survive.

It was just awful. Everything gets taken out of your hands. We just wanted our baby.

AML is an aggressive, rare cancer that affects the blood. Stem cells found in bone marrow produce too many immature white blood cells which are called blast cells.

The blast cells are unable to properly fight off infection, and if too many are produced the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and platelets, which clot the blood, can be reduced.

Symptoms of the illness include pale skin, tiredness, frequent infections, and breathlessness.

In severe cases AML can make sufferers extremely vulnerable to life-threatening infections. A bone marrow or stem cell transplant may be necessary alongside chemotherapy or radiotherapy to combat the illness.

After four courses of chemotherapy, Daniel seemed to be getting better. He was even able to go home for his first birthday.

But seven months later, the leukemia had returned, this time bringing a lump in Daniels brain with it.

After numerous chemotherapy treatments to battle theacute myloid leukaemia that had spread to Daniels blood and bone marrow, Daniel contracted parainfluenza.

Unable to fight off the infection, he spent nine days on life support before passing away.

He was on life support for nine days, there were so many times when I thought, he was going to die, said Ali.

Then the day he did die we didnt expect it. We just thought, You little b*gger.

I got to carry him across the corridor to the hospital cold room, which was an honour.

Its quite hard coping with death, he was still our baby.

We shared that picture to show the story goes on after death. People have been so supportive.

Dan said that picture looks like when they used to lay warriors to rest and Daniel was a fighter.

He was always happy and always smiling. I know it sounds crazy, but he never really seemed that unwell. When he was sick he was just quiet.

Now, Ali and Dan want to keep their sons legacy alive by using his story to raise awareness about blood and bone marrow donation.

So far, Daniel has helped to raise over 25,000 for charity.

We just want to get the message out about donating blood and bone marrow transplant now, says Ali.

Sometimes Daniel had to wait 12 hours for transfusions. But he would have died a long time ago if it hadnt have been for donors.

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Mum shares heartbreaking photograph kissing her son goodbye after he passed away while battling acute myloid ... - Metro

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