Go Gold This September: Supporting Kids Like Aydin During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
Go Gold this September for kids like Aydin.
This September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Kids with Cancer Foundation is going gold to raise awareness and vital funds for kids like Aydin and their families. Support during this time is crucial to help us achieve support for kids now and into the future by investing in research, hospital facilities and the best clinicians.
Aydin’s story
In early 2023, Aydin was a normal, happy and bubbly seven-year-old. He loved school, had a lot of friends and was nicknamed ‘Mr Smiley’ because no matter what life threw at him, he was always smiling.
In April 2023, Aydin started waking multiple times every night complaining of leg pain, back pain, a tummy ache, or a headache. At first, Aydin’s Mum, Ilknur, and Dad, Joshua, thought it might be dehydration or growing pains. But on the night of 1 May 2023, Aydin woke with a blood curdling scream and was in incredible pain – his parents thought it might be appendicitis, so rushed Aydin to Fairfield hospital. After an x-ray, it was recommended that Aydin be taken to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
At The Children’s Hospital, Westmead, Aydin underwent a gruelling number of scans and tests with specialists from different departments. They deemed Aydin the ‘mystery case’. On the evening of 4 May, his parents were advised that during an MRI, Aydin’s right thigh and hip “lit up like a Christmas tree” and that he needed a biopsy, which was done the next day. At 5pm on 5 May 2023, Aydin’s life, and that of his whole family, changed. It was confirmed that Aydin had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
The following day, Aydin’s parents, Ilknur and Joshua, brought his four siblings to hospital to visit and broke the news to them all. While dealing with their own broken hearts, his Mum and Dad now had five little broken hearts to look after as well.
The following week, Aydin received his central line and his chemotherapy started immediately. It was a tough first month, Aydin had a stubborn infection in his central line which led to a 30 day stay in hospital.
“Once the initial shock of the diagnosis and his pain was under control, Aydin returned to his normal self. He was smiling and making jokes and being his silly self. He is so brave and throughout this has stayed so strong, which has helped us be strong,” said Ilknur and Joshua.
“The only time we saw Aydin get a little emotional was when he had his first hair loss, otherwise he always had a smile on his face. He never complained, never put up a fight, never said ‘but why’.”
From May 2023 to now, it has been a bumpy journey. Aydin has had a number of hospital stays, with the most severe incident in December 2023 when his little body was riddled with ulcers and he couldn’t eat or drink – Aydin needed to be fed through a nutrition bag and spent 2.5 weeks in hospital.
Although his treatment is ongoing until May 2025, Aydin had his central line removed in January 2024 and has been deemed cancer free since.
“We are beyond proud of Aydin’s resilience, bravery and selflessness he displayed throughout this journey – his insistence of still being a normal kid, continuing to want to go to school and do day to day activities. All of our children have stayed strong and have bonded together during this time, showing incredible support for each other. Aydin’s brother, Adem, even recently participated in Kids with Cancer Foundation’s Wigs 4 Kids program, cutting off his hair to fundraise as well as make a wig for a child with cancer, and to show his brother his support,” added Ilknur and Joshua.
You can help raise vital funds for kids like Aydin this September Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
