Zak's Goal
Raising vital funds to help save lives & improve outcomes for people affected by primary bone cancer.
Zak's Story
Zak was a larger than life young boy. He is the younger brother to Tyler who is 2.5 years older than him. Zak had passion, determination and a cheeky personality. He was always up for a laugh and lived his life to have the most fun he could. His laugh was infectious, even when he was being a cheeky chappy.
He loved sports and everything he tried seemed to come so naturally to him. He was fast, agile, tactical and motivated.
Zak played football from a very young age, starting his passion at the young age of 3. He always had a ball at his feet. He moved through the football age groups and decided at 5 he wanted to start playing Rugby Union in addition to his football.
He was in his element on a grass pitch, come rain, wind or shine he had to be there, always putting everything he had into each match. But that still wasn’t enough for Zak, so he added another football team into the mix. Evenings and weekends fast became full of what he loved, playing sports with his friends.
In early 2022 Zak woke during the night complaining of pain in his left hand side. He settled down shortly after and went back to sleep. A few months went by and the same thing happened again so we contacted NHS 111 for advice, but again he settled down and went back to sleep.
Then during a family break away mid June 2022 for Tyler's 10th birthday, Zak began to complain of pain again but this time during the day. The pain intensified and we went to A&E. Nothing came back on any tests and we were sent home.
The following day I returned to A&E with Zak as I knew something wasn’t right. They admitted Zak and after more tests we were referred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. After spending a week on a general ward, multiple tests, ultrasound scans and then finally a full MRI we received the devastating diagnosis that Zak had Metastasis Ewing sarcoma of the 10th rib. Zak was only 7 years old.
Treatment started right away and Zak underwent 6 months of chemotherapy. He had one week with a 2 day cycle, a week break then he was back again for a 6 day cycle. This continued on rotation for 27 weeks. Zak tolerated his treatment incredibly well. The same way he’s always gone through life, with grit and determination. In December 2022, with just 3 chemotherapy cycles remaining Zak underwent 30 daily sessions of radiotherapy.
January 2023, last chemo, last radio……………Zak had done it! He’d smashed everything that had been thrown at him. We couldn’t have been prouder of him.
March 2023, Zak's scans were clear! We were overwhelmed with joy and decided 2023 was going to be filled with fun, family and friends!
During Zak’s time in hospital he created a bucket list. 2023 was about achieving some of those goals! We went to Centre Parcs and filled it with every activity imaginable. We went on a family beach holiday with ‘sick slides’ as requested by the boys. We bought a touring caravan and had many family adventures. Zak drove a land rover off road, went on a zip line. We also took an amazing once in a lifetime trip to Florida! We explored all the parks, roller coasters, waterparks, space center, swam with dolphins and so much more.
March 2024, 9 days after Zak’s 9th birthday, the scans showed the tumour had returned and he had additional small tumours on his brain.
Our Goal
We want to continue to fight Zak’s fight, to help raise awareness and fund research so more people can hold their loved ones for longer.
In the UK, around 560 people are diagnosed with primary bone cancer each year, with osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma being the most common types to affect children and young adults aged 10 to 20.
Primary bone cancer is rare and accounts for less than 1% of all cancers and is moderately more common in men than women.
Figures from the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) have revealed that the total spend amongst major UK charities for research into primary bone cancer in 2020-21 was £168,316 – just 0.027% of the £630m total research investment for this period.
We want to do more, to raise more funds to gain better outcomes for children and families affected by primary bone cancer.
We will be organising multiple fundraising events and hope to see many of you there, supporting, participating but most importantly doing it all for Zak and children like him who will face this truly horrendous disease in the future. Together we can save lives and improve outcomes.
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