Ravensthorpe nursery helping Harrison’s Disneyland dream come true

LITTLE Harrison Moore wants nothing more than to go and see Mickey Mouse at Disneyworld in Florida.

First, though, he has to get through years of gruelling treatment for leukaemia.

Then there is the cost. But his mum, Louise Stenchion vows: “If I have to save up forever he will go.”

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So she is overwhelmed that Child’s Play nursery in Dewbsury, which Harrison attends, is organising an event aimed at making his dream come true.

A charity football match and fun day is being held in Ravensthorpe on August 11 when collections will also be made for children’s cancer charity Candlelighters.

It is almost two years since Louise was told four-year-old Harrison had leukaemia.

“I walked around in a daze for six months,” said the 34-year-old, who works as an admin officer at a Batley school. “I was gutted. Devastated. I couldn’t believe it.”

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She had taken him to the doctor with swelling in his neck which she thought was mumps. But hospital doctors warned that her son could have blood cancer and the diagnosis was confirmed after a lumbar puncture.

Chemotherapy and steroid treatment followed, but early this year Harrison began suffering fits. Doctors are looking into the cause and just this week Harrison had to have another lumbar puncture.

All this has meant Louise taking time off from her job. “But the school has been really supportive,” she said.

She also praised the support of her mum, Mary Smith, a science technician at St John Fisher Catholic High School in Dewsbury. “I couldn’t have managed without her,” said Louise, of Leeds Road, Dewsbury.

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Fortunately, the prognosis for Harrison is pretty good. Doctors think he can have a normal life. “But he will need constant checks,” said Louise.

And while he is now in remission, there is a five per cent chance the leukaemia will recur.

Mary said: “We believe he will be okay. But the fear is at the back of your mind all the time.”

The fundraiser kicks off at the Crawshaw Street playing fields at 2pm when staff and mums from Child’s Play take on a team from the Bull’s Head pub, where the fun will continue.

A Child’s Play spokesman said: “Harrison is a special little boy who tries not to let his illness get in the way.”