Worthing family share story of son's cancer diagnosis at the age of two

Four-year-old Louis Knight, from Worthing, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at just two-years-old after his parents, Chris and Nicola, noticed he had developed a squint in the midst of the first Covid lockdown in 2020.

After being seen by an eye specialist, Louis was given a CT scan which showed a mass the size of an apricot behind his eye.

He was swiftly referred to Southampton General Hospital where doctors broke the devastating news to the family that Louis had cancer and that the mass was growing quickly.

“They did MRIs and, on the Sunday, they said they didn’t need a biopsy to confirm, they knew it was cancer and it was growing quite quickly, the size of an apricot,” said Mr Knight.

“On the Sunday we had a chat with the consultant, and they said they were going to do a biopsy but were not going to wait for the biopsy to start the treatment itself.”

The toddler went on to have seven cycles of chemotherapy at Southampton.

Louis getting a hug from Isabelle (Image: The Knight family)

Due to Covid restrictions, Louis could only have one parent at a time with him, which not only meant his mum and dad not staying with him together but his older sister, Isabelle, only saw him for three days during a home visit for the entire six months he was being treated.

Mr Knight said one of the hardest conversations he had to have was explaining the diagnosis to his six-year-old daughter.

“We didn’t really explain much to her for the first few weeks because we didn’t know what or how much to explain, but we knew at some point we needed to explain it because he was going to be in hospital for quite a while and we needed to explain to her without lying what it was,” he said.

“We took her out and we bought Louis and her a toy, had a McDonald’s, made sure I told her in the afternoon and not before bed and basically read through a script and explained what it was, made sure I explained it was cancer, explained about chemo what it would do to him in terms of losing hair.”

Louis, who has now finished treatment, with his sister Isabelle at Hallowe'en (Image: The Knight family)

During Louis’ cancer treatment the whole family was supported by Young Lives vs Cancer, the UK’s leading charity for children and young people with cancer.

This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the charity is highlighting the many difficult conversations parents and carers have to have when their child is diagnosed and how its social workers are there to support families through it.

“Emily our Young Lives vs Cancer social worker was a complete life-saver,” said Mr Knight.

“She recommended a special book that explained cancer to children, which we bought immediately and read with Isabelle. It was great! Lovely illustrations and really well written - we'd never have found it ourselves.

“Just knowing someone was there who knew what you were thinking and made you feel normal was so reassuring.”

Louis has now finished treatment; he is back at home with his whole family and has just started school too.