Leukemia is among the deadliest cancers and extremely difficult to diagnose in the early stages, as most often the symptoms are very generalized. A type of blood cancer that mostly affects children, leukemia forms in the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system.

British boy Vinny Wicks, who is now seven years old, was diagnosed with the cancer last year. After months of his treatment, which included chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the young boy is now looking forward to a peaceful festive time at home and getting all clear in 2025 when the treatment finally ends.

Vinny's parents, Harriet and Matthew, explained the telltale signs they spotted their son was ill—and how they went about getting a diagnosis—which was important for Vinny’s quick recovery.

According to Harriet, one of the first symptoms she noticed was Vinny began to lose his appetite. She said the child would return from school with a full lunchbox, which doctors initially said could be because of the flu. However, despite dismissal from the doctors, Harriet continued to spot red dots all over his body, and after a few tests, they found he had 65 per cent of the cells in Vinny’s body were leukemic.

"We've tried to make his life as normal as possible but when something happens to your child, it's really hard. This Christmas, we've gone large with the tree, the most incredible neon light display, and have booked every single Christmas experience we can do,” Harriet told The Sun.

Another important red flag sign of Vinny’s leukemia was a change in his habits, especially his sleeping pattern. "He always used to wake up in the night and in the last school term, I noticed he started to sleep through the night, which wasn't normal. He also stopped eating hardly anything and he had a cold and that went on for about three months,” she said.

"Then after a summer camp, he came back and he looked awful. He hadn't eaten anything from his lunch box. He then started vomiting and doctors thought it was tonsillitis,” Harriet added. "But after a four-day holiday with his dad, he could barely walk, he was sleeping at funny times and not eating.”

Vinny was diagnosed with leukemia in August 2023 after doctors discovered his full blood count was lower than usual. His platelet level was 12, with a normal level usually ranging between 500 and 700.

After weeks of blood transfusions and bone marrow samples, doctors conducted chemotherapy to reduce the leukemic cell count. However, he once suffered an anaphylactic shock from one of the medications. But slowly, Vinny recovered.

According to experts, leukemia begins in the bone marrow—the soft, spongy tissue in your inner cavity of bones, where your body’s blood cells are made. Blood cells go through multiple stages before reaching their fully mature forms. Mature, normal blood cells include:

• Red blood cells
• White blood cells
• Platelets

These cells start as hematopoietic stem cells, which develop into either myeloid or lymphoid cells. And so, you may have leukemia when one of the developing blood cells begins to multiply out of control.

Doctors say common signs and symptoms of leukemia include:

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