Hear from Gabriel
Hey, my name is Gabriel. I am 10 years old, and I absolutely love football. My favourite team is Manchester United, and my favourite players are Ronaldo and Rashford. I play for St Malachy’s 2013s and recently got asked to be the captain. I also love my friends, my family, McDonalds, video games and life in general.
When I was 7 (in 2021) I was diagnosed with cancer and everything changed for a while. I got really sick and had to stay in hospital for ages which made me feel really emotional. I was vomiting a lot and didn’t like eating anything. Getting my bloods done, having to get needles and having a syringe driver made me really anxious. I missed my home and playing with my brothers. I hated not being able to play football and I really missed my friends. This made me feel really sad at times.
However, there were some good things about being in hospital. I didn’t have to go to school and as a result got to sleep in. The nurses were fun, doing TikTok dances for me and at Halloween (when I felt a little better) Mummy got me a ghost mask and we hid around the ward, jumping out and scaring them. I also got signed football shirts from Marcus Rashford and Jonny Evans and messages to encourage me to stay brave which really helped. I’ve always wanted a dog and after I finished my treatment and my bloods were better, we got Roma who I absolutely love.
I also met Hannah who is a Cancer Support Specialist with Cancer fund for Children. She helped me talk about my emotions using a “football pitch of support,” helping me name my worries and look at ways to cope with them. She is lots of fun (maybe a bit weird) and took me to McDonalds and other places that I like to eat, helping me feel comfortable to talk about how I feel. The only bad thing about Hannah is that she supports Liverpool.
If someone was to ask me if they should get support from Cancer Fund for Children, I would tell them to just do it. Hannah helped me become a lot more confident in myself and to talk about how I feel, whilst having lots of fun.