Zen and whanau leukaemia support

Zen was born in April of 2018, he is just 16 months old. He was diagnosed with Down Syndrome shortly after birth, which for Zen meant a heightened risk of developing leukaemia due to white blast cells in his blood. Last week his mum Laurielle received a phone call from the hospital and was asked to come in as soon as possible. This was when Alex and Laurielle were told the thing no parent wants to hear, "your child has leukaemia". Alex and Laurielle were told to get their things together as they would be flying to Christchurch the next day, and would need to stay down there for at least a month.

This time has now been extended to 6-7 months, meaning Laurielle and Zen will need to stay away from home in Christchurch for the duration of his treatment. Alex will need to fly back and forth to Wellington so that he can continue working. As treatment varies for different people we don't know exactly how much time Alex might need to take off work or if/when he might need to travel at short notice. We are asking for support so that Alex has the freedom to take time off work to be with and support Zen and Laurielle when he needs to.

Zen started his chemotherapy on Tuesday this week. He has remained his happy, cheeky, raspberry blowing self through all 96 hours of it. He has a smile on his face almost all of the time and continues to amaze his parents with his strength and resilience. If you've ever met Zen or heard any of his family talk about him, you'll know just how special this boy is, so you can imagine how hard it'll be for his Dad to be away from him 5 days a week.

Please give what you can. Zen's whole whanau will be incredibly grateful for your support.