Brave Keane to undergo transplant op (From Wiltshire Times)

Brave Keane to undergo transplant op

3:05pm Tuesday 20th January 2009 in News By Wiltshire Times Reporter

BRAVE Melksham schoolboy Keane Meyers is awaiting a bone marrow transplant at Bristol Children’s Hospital after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2006.

The six-year-old from Bewley Crescent in Lacock, who recently received a Little Star award for his brave battle with Non-Hodgkins lymphoblastic lymphoma, will receive a bone marrow transplant on Friday from a donor in America.

The marrow is being shipped over to Bristol this week where it will be cleaned before Keane’s surgery. He will then be kept in isolation for 28 days after the transplant, as his immune system will be low.

Despite the gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions Keane has had since he was admitted to the hospital last Friday (16) he has stayed positive according to his parents Chris and Kate Meyers, both 33.

His proud father said: “I’m so proud of him. It amazes us how he keeps smiling all the time that is what keeps us going.

“He is such a chirpy, happy, little boy and we just think he is so brave.

“He has matured a lot of the past year since he was diagnosed and people are always thinking he is about eight or nine-years-old.”

Keane has been busying himself during his stay in hospital by taking part in creative activities and catching up on the schoolwork he has missed with a teacher who comes in to see him and the other children each day.

The bright Year 2 pupil who went to Shaw Primary School before he was diagnosed with the cancer in 2006 has made loads of friends on the bone marrow transplant ward and knows just how to cheer them up when they are down.

Mr Meyers, who looks after Keane’s younger sister Karly, five, while his wife is their son’s full-time carer, said: “He has made so many friends there and when ever anybody is said he puts a smile on their face because he is so cheerful.

“He even puts a smile on the nurses’ faces sometimes even playing practical jokes on them.”

According to his dad, Keane can’t wait to get better so that he can start playing football again and go cycling or walking with his parents and Karly. Keane is also eagerly mapping out his career with his original plans to work in ICT like his dad changing as he has decided he wants become a doctor, something his dad suspects is influenced by his many visits to hospital.

His parents would like to thank their family and friends and Mr Meyers’ employer Fujitsu based in Bristol for being supportive during Keane’s treatment.