Boddington family staying strong two years after son’s cancer diagnosis

When her then-two-year-old son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Nicky Sherlock’s life was thrown into freefall. Jamie Sherlock was diagnosed with the particularly aggressive form of bone-marrow cancer in September 2019. In an instant, Jamie’s life — feeding his pet lamb Coco, playing in the sand pit and feeding the chooks on their Boddington farm — was turned upside down. But through resolve, honesty and help from Australian charity Redkite, Jamie and the family are working through the difficult treatment. Ms Sherlock said that from the moment she heard the news, she knew she would need to be strong for her son. “I had my mum and my dad and my husband there and they all just broke down and I knew that I couldn’t. I wasn't allowed to because he was just looking at me,” she said. “It was just so hectic. You go from running around a farm to, ‘Hey, your kid’s got cancer, now we’re going to do this to him. “You have to hold him down while we put this tube in his nose, hold him down while we put needles in him’. It just changes so, so quickly.” Jamie has maintained a strong attitude despite his trying circumstances. It has not been easy and Ms Sherlock said one of the only ways to help Jamie with his pain was to be honest. “Jamie is just a little trooper, he is such a fighter. He puts a smile on his face even when he’s sitting there and he’s absolutely miserable, he’ll look up at you and give you that smile,” she said. “I've found that you just have to be honest, if it is going to hurt you have to tell him. You can’t sugar-coat anything.” Ms Sherlock said that the family was also dealing with the financial strain that goes with cancer treatment. They go regularly back and forth from Boddington to Perth Children’s Hospital for treatment with the costs quickly stacking up. She said Redkite had helped financially and emotionally through their crisis. “It’s massive, massive amounts of kilometres going backwards and forwards. This month I’ve done four trips to Perth for Jamie to the hospital, just blood checks and every-thing else,” she said. “Redkite, they're just amazing ... their financial help has just been phenomenal with food vouchers and fuel vouchers. “They help emotionally as well, they have counselling which is really cool. I’ve used it myself and it’s certainly helped.”