Older brother Alex hugs George after a particularly difficult day of therapy
It's Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Jane McGowan meets a Surrey family who are putting the disease to the sword
As I arrive at the Woodalls’ Redhill home, I am met by four happy, vibrant people whose easy hospitality, warmth and energy belie the hell they have been living through for the past 20 months.
I am led to their newly built healing garden (more of which later), where we tuck into scones until George – thoughtfully considering my waistline – double dips the butter knife, preventing me from overindulging. The soon-to-be six-year-old and his nine-year-old brother Alex race around, bickering over tennis and TV, before the promise of a Hot Wheels car restores calm.
Looking at George, it is hard to believe that this winsome whirlwind has endured 14 rounds of chemotherapy, 10 hours of surgery that removed part of his spine – and left him needing to learn to walk again – and 30 bouts of proton therapy carried out during one of the USA’s fiercest hurricanes. I find that I am loath to ask mum Vicki and dad James (Woody) to share all that he has been through. For this is a tale with a mascara warning.
November 26, 2016, was a typical Saturday for the Woodalls, spent rushing around, playing sport, shopping. But as Vicki struggled to get her wriggly younger son to stay still while she trimmed his nails after bathtime, she suddenly came across a lump on his back.
“I felt this thing and I thought: ‘What the hell is that?’” she recalls. “There was no bruise; it wasn’t tender to the touch. But it was odd. George was a perfectly healthy four-year-old boy. There had been no indication that anything was wrong.”
As it was late on Saturday night, they decided to visit A&E in the morning. Woody, a pilot, was scheduled to work that day, so while Alex was taken to rugby training by a friend, Vicki headed off to East Surrey Hospital in Redhill with a very bouncy George in tow.
George and mum Vicki before chemo
“They were absolutely brilliant,” she says, her eyes already shining with tears at the memory. “They got in the on-call sonographer and within two hours we knew it wasn’t muscular, or a cyst; it was a mass. To me that meant cancer. I broke down completely. George didn’t have a clue what was going on and was handing me tissues to wipe away my tears.”
George and Vicki were sent home and the A&E nurse who had looked after George insisted on giving her phone number, with the instruction to call at any time.
“I will never, ever forget her,” says Vicki. “In the event, I didn’t need her number, as she rang to see if we had got home okay and then three times more that day to check on me.
“To be told your little boy may have cancer, well, your world implodes. East Surrey was ridiculously efficient and we saw a consultant the next day. She was talking about all kinds of tumours. We came home and Googled them and then we really freaked out.”
Woody and Vicki scoured old photos to see if they had missed anything.
“You try to become some kind of medical sleuth,” admits Woody, back from settling the boys. “We looked up all kinds of scenarios and treatments. Basically, we were in a fog of panic. The fear is relentless.”
Two days later George was at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton and, by December 23, the family had been told that he had a tumour the size of a large peach pushing on his spinal column.
“Suddenly it’s like something from TV as if you’re living Children in Need,” Vicki explains.
“But at the same time, you start to meet the most wonderful people,” adds Woody. “You are amazed at what people can and will do, yet wishing all the time that you didn’t have to meet them.”
George soldiers on through a procedure
Following the “biggest Christmas of their lives”, the pair spent New Year’s Eve taking stock.
“We were both well, well over max in terms of mental capacity,” says Vicki.
And yet, despite their fear and fatigue, the Woodalls resolved to do something positive. During their brief time at the Marsden they had discovered that, for every £100 raised for research, only £1.27 goes towards combating childhood cancers – despite the fact that 11 children in the UK are diagnosed with cancer each day and, of that 11, three will die. So, as champagne corks popped across the land that New Year’s Eve, the Woodalls launched George and the Giant Pledge with the core objectives of highlighting childhood cancer and raising a whopping £100,000 for the Royal Marsden.
Two days later, however, the plans were put on hold.
“We were still hoping that the tumour was benign,” says Woody. “But then we were called back to the hospital.”
Once there, the family were given the news they had been dreading. George had cancer – specifically a PNET (primitive neuroectodermal tumour), an Ewing sarcoma of the soft tissue.
“We were told how sick he would be, that his hair would fall out and that the treatment plan would take up to a year, with chemo, surgery and radiotherapy,” explains Vicki. “There are no words to describe how you feel. It’s basically just punch after punch.”
“In the following weeks,” continues Woody, taking up the story, “George began to shut down – he wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t go to the toilet, wouldn’t smile. We think it was his way of taking control. After being a normal boy, feeling fine, he suddenly had to have tubes inserted and was in a lot of pain.”
George is comforted by his older brother during the darkest days of treatment
Meanwhile, as the family came to terms with the news, the George and the Giant Pledge fund was gaining momentum. In less than two weeks it hit the £100,000 total, making it Just Giving’s fastest ever international donation page.
“That was just our friends and family and the local community and vloggers, sharing it on social media,” says Vicki. “It’s been phenomenal – the people of Redhill and Reigate have been so supportive. We can’t thank them enough.”
Woody and Vicki began writing a Facebook blog to raise awareness of what life is like when your child has cancer. “It’s been cathartic for us,” says Woody. “It has helped to make sense of things. And we also wanted a record for George to look back on, should he want to, when he’s older.”
Following the overwhelming success of the fundraising campaign, the couple decided to “go for it” and raise the target to £1m. Today, thanks to sponsored walks, quiz nights, fun days at local hotels and pubs, parachute jumps by septuagenarians, a caped crusader and a lot of buckets shaking, the total stands at more than £780,000.
The family has worked closely with the Marsden to discuss where the money should go. So far the Pledge has funded two play therapists; a sarcoma research fellow; a study into cognitive therapy post brain tumour; the renovation of one of East Surrey Hospital’s isolation rooms; and funding for research into drug development for pediatric cancers.
“George and Alex have always come first,” insists Woody. “But we found time to work on the pledge. While one of us was at the hospital, the other could write an update or upload some photos and say thank you to people.”
“We’ve had such support through some dark, dark days,” adds Vicki. “People’s kindnesses and words have been massively humbling and we are so, so grateful.”
The Woodalls
From the outset, the family had been told that George’s cancer ‘qualified’ for proton treatment – a form of radiotherapy beam that treats the tumour directly, avoiding damage to healthy tissue – which would be carried out in Jacksonville, Florida.
What they didn’t know was that the nation’s deadliest hurricane was also heading for the East Coast state.
“Water was running out, there was a petrol shortage and twister alerts kept interrupting the TV,” recalls Woody. “We had Alex with us, as we were hoping to go to Disney World, and at one point we were sleeping on mattresses in the wardrobe. It was the safest place.”
“It was like being in a disaster movie,” laughs Vicki. “Just bonkers. It was George’s fifth birthday and terrifying. But in a way, it was good, as we were all together for the first time in months. We had spent so much time apart while George was having surgery in North London, but while we were in the US he was relatively well. That time, just the four of us, was so precious.”
And while the Woodalls took on the elements, more than 100 Pledge volunteers set about clearing their “jungle of a garden” back in Redhill.
“Basically we had our own mini DIY SOS,” says Vicki. “Our friend Laura (from Laura’s Gardens in Reigate) decided to design a garden for us and she put out a call for action to anyone who could help. The response from local companies such as a Brighter Shade of Green in Coulsdon was amazing. We moved into our house, which is basically a wreck, just before George fell ill and we hadn’t been able to do anything to it. This garden gives us a place to think and just be a family.”
The Woodalls' new garden built by local pledge volunteers while the family was in America
George battled on and, in February 2018, the family got the news they had longed for: George was disease free.
“It was actually my 40th birthday and it was the very best present. We really celebrated and I don’t think I managed the blog that night, but it is the only one I have missed in 18 months” says Vicki.
Obstacles remain. The back operation has left George with scoliosis and he must now face the possibility of spending 20 hours a day in a body brace for a decade. For the next two years, he will undergo three-monthly scans, the frequency to be gradually reduced in time. The family is aware that relapse is very common with this illness. It is, says Vicki, “50/50”. But, as they announce in unison: “He is still here.”
The dark days have been numerous and Vicki admits that, between scans and results, she may only sleep three hours a night. It’s what is known in oncology circles as ‘scanxiety’. But you have to “take the wins”; and, second to George’s healthiness, the Pledge is the big one.
“George and Alex have carried us through,” she reflects. “When Alex asked for the first time whether George was going to die, I felt so sick. Now they are just like normal brothers – it’s all about football and silly arguments. As for us, well, we definitely hold our boys tighter now. But most of all we’d just like to get back to some kind of normal.”
Alex and George taking the fight to cancer
To support George & The Giant Pledge and find out about upcoming events, visit: giantpledge.com.
September marks Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To find out how you can help, visit: cclg.org.uk.
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