A Newbliss mother has told Northern Sound no matter what her 6-year-old son does in his life, she will never be as proud of him than se is for the way he dealt with his cancer diagnosis. Melissa Murphy, said it's "a very good week" in their house because young Danny Murphy has beaten his illness, is back at school and waiting for Santa. To add to the buzz in the Murphy household, a photograph taken by a family friend of a fit and healthy Danny holding a sign which reads "I kicked cancer's butt" has taken on a life of its own on social media and has melted the hearts of many well-wishers.
On the same day that Northern Sound is running its annual Christmas jumper appeal in aid of Crumlin Hospital, Melissa spoke of the difficult journey Danny and his family have just come through. In March, Melissa and Danny's dad, Sean, had to sit their boy down to tell him he had cancer. He was still only aged 5.
With hardly enough time to process the news that turned their lives "upside down", many visits to Crumlin and Temple Street Children's hospitals and even a seven-week stay in Germany where Danny went for specialist treatment, followed. Melissa has described how Danny was a normal little boy, full of energy, who was "flying" at junior Infants, when he came home from school with a lump on the side of his nose. The Murphy's have made many friends for life on Danny's journey to health, felt the support of many more people and saw for themselves the amazing work of children's hospital staff, and after it all, Melissa had this message:
"Only the lump came up where it did on Daddy, we wouldn't have been concerned about him at all," Melissa said, "We wouldn't have been concerned about him at all. we never dreamed that was going on in his body because his form was so good. he was just normal, a normal five-year-old.
"So, I think that's the real scary thing that people need to actually know that just because the form is good, it doesn't mean that if a bump comes up on either adults' bodies or kids' bodies, it doesn't matter, even if your form is good go and get it checked out."
