‘Riley can beat this – just like before’ – the family of a young Castle Ness boy take first steps to health
The family of a seven-year-old Inverness boy who has an exceptionally rare cancer – affecting as few as one in 10 million people – say he is facing a long journey to health.
But they are being upbeat as Riley Maclennan, from Ness Castle, who has spent the last nine weeks in a Glasgow hospital, starts his chemotherapy this week.
While the family – dad Kevin (53), Moira (44) and older brothers Evan and James – take on board a new treatment plan for Riley, there is positive news on the number of matches for any future bone marrow treatment he is likely to require.
Mr Maclennan said: “We are very lucky, in that we have found more than 300 matches for stem cell donors, which is the good news.
“Riley has started chemotherapy this week. He will have an intensive treatment for his first week, and then a week’s break before he starts another round of treatment.”
Riley has already beaten leukaemia once – ringing a bell to mark the end of his daily chemotherapy treatment in October 2020.
Riley was just two when he was first diagnosed with leukaemia in December 2016 after developing bruises on his legs and stomach.
But in a cruel twist of fate, one of his genes split after his last cancer treatment, manifesting itself in another cancer – acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with monosomy seven – leaving the plucky youngster facing a lengthy stay in hospital.
“This is the start of a long journey for Riley, and for Moira and me,” Mr Maclennan said.
“But we are facing it with the sure knowledge that we have been here before – and we can beat cancer.
“We understand what is going on a bit more than anyone coming to this for the first time.
“Of course, over the years we have been in and out of hospital, so we have a large ‘cancer family’.
“I really want to reassure other families that this is a very, very rare situation, and it is highly unlikely it will happen to anyone else who has already been through cancer. Please don’t worry.
“I have been researching these conditions online, and so has the wonderful medical team under the guidance of Professor Gibson.
“Her team is outstanding and we have every faith in what they are guiding us through.
“Together, we have found a few other people in the world who have a similar condition.
“No one has the same condition as Riley, that we have found so far, so it just makes us believe even more that our boy Riley, as we have always known, is incredibly special.
“There are two other cases in the UK, an 11-year-old boy and a 35-year-old woman and there is a person in Houston, Texas who all have a similar condition. Riley’s case is one in 10 million because of the way in which his gene split.
“Moira and I are doing everything we can to try and understand what is happening to Riley.
“The more information we have, the more resources we will have to deal with whatever is ahead of us.”
Mr Maclennan said the family are only thinking positively about the future, he said: “We did all our crying at the start of this, the only thing to do is to face the future in the full knowledge that we can beat this.
“We have done it before.”
READ: Inverness family plea: 'Help us to save Riley'
