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Artwork highlights boy’s brave blood cancer fight

Posted onPosted on 14th Sep

The story of a Mansfield boy who underwent more than three years of treatment for childhood leukaemia is part of a large scale art installation in one of London’s busiest squares.

Joe Hogan, (9), is one of 104 people with blood cancer, chosen from across the UK, to have their story told as part of the installation in Paternoster Square.

The work represents the 104 people who are diagnosed with blood cancer every day in the UK, raising public awareness and making their experiences visible by telling their individual stories.

It has been erected to mark Blood Cancer Awareness Month and will be in place until the end of the month.

The artwork also launched the Make Blood Cancer Visible campaign, supported by the blood cancer research charity Bloodwise and eight other blood cancer charities and patient support groups.

Joe, a pupil at St Philip Neri with St Bede Catholic Primary School, and his family now help the blood cancer charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research,

His mum, Leanne, is also a patient ambassador for Bloodwise.

Joe was diagnosed with high risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in January 2010 when he was just two.

Leanne said: “He was withdrawn, feverish and lethargic.

“We visited the GP several times and although his symptoms were put down to a viral infection, we weren’t convinced.

“He seemed to get worse, his face matched the colour of his light blond hair, he developed pain in his limbs and unexplained bruises and tiny blood spots all over his body.

“We took him back to the GP again but this time we were adamant that something was not quite right with our little boy.

“After a thorough examination it was identified that Joe had an enlarged spleen and, coupled with his other symptoms, he was sent to hospital immediately for further investigation.

“At the hospital Joe had a blood test, the first of many needles that he was to encounter on his long journey, before two doctors took us and our scared, confused two-year-old into a room and told us the most devastating news.

“We were shocked, speechless and just sobbed; never in a million years do you expect something like this to happen to your child.”

Joe’s name, constructed in three dimensions at his exact height, with a summary of his blood cancer experience, featured alongside other patients’ names and stories and plinths highlighting facts about blood cancer in the artwork.

Pharmaceutical company Janssen commissioned artist Paul Cocksedge to create the installation. next to St Paul’s Cathedral.

Leanne said: “Joe’s life became very difficult and scary – 3½ years of tests, procedures, transfusions, chemotherapy, steroids, hair loss, pain and endless hospital stays.”

Joe finished treatment in June 2013 and he has been cancer free since.

Leanne added: “Despite all that he has been through, Joe is a happy boy and takes everything in his stride.

“Watching him fight cancer has changed our lives forever and taught us never to take anything for granted.

“We were happy for Joe to be featured in the installation as it highlights the fact that blood cancer can affect any one of us at any time, including children.

“Blood cancer needs to be more acknowledged and so raising awareness of this devastating disease is very important to us.”

Joe Hogan, centre, with his parents Leanne and Billy, his brother, Finlay, and sister, Lexi.