"Your smiles and care are getting my son through each day"

My story is not as a patient at this hospital. My story is as a mother of a son who is undergoing treatment for cancer in the hospital; a mother who is thousands of miles away in Australia and unable to be at her son's side.

My son is at the half-way mark of his treatment. I pray every day he will get through this ordeal. The thing that keeps me going each day is the fact that we can text and talk regularly when he is well enough. If he is unable to do this, my son-in-law steps into the role.

I am comforted every day when my son tells me about this amazing hospital. Praise for his oncologist, Dr Johnson and his medical team, and importantly praise for the staff. He said their smiles and care are getting him through each day. Staff who have so any patients but still have time to treat him with kindness, care and hope; helping him cope with total loss of dignity and humanity from the side effects of this insidious disease.

I spent last night crying myself to sleep after he told me about the cheering he received after his first stem cell harvest as he returned by ambulance and was wheeled back to his hospital bed.

Know that you all are helping his parents, family and friends in Australia get through this terribly difficult time. Thank you doesn't seem enough.