A Boy In A Bed: A Diary About Paediatric Cancer

‘I want to tell Otto’s story and the story of brain cancer in a child. Not because the cancer defined who he was, but because since then it has become a big part of my life to raise awareness of this illness, medullablastoma, that took him from us. The treatment is bad in every way and no real progress has been made in the last 50 years. Why are all parents’ stories about their family’s experience with this disease so similar? The same late diagnosis, the same toxic treatment, the same awful side-effects, the same brave fight and all too often, the same terrible death.
So, I will tell Otto’s story through the diary I kept while he was ill, because there are not enough survivors to tell their own tale. And more often than not, they have many side effects caused by the treatment that stay with them throughout their (most often, sadly, very short) lives. This is my plea for better, more advanced treatment, so that our children can expect to live out their lives in the way they deserve.’