A FATHER has paid tribute to his five-year-old son who has lost his battle against cancer.Toddler Gabriel Knox-Macaulay was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at the age of two and faced almost three years of intensive treatment and chemotherapy.

By Danielle Nuttall

A FATHER has paid tribute to his five-year-old son who has lost his battle against cancer.

Toddler Gabriel Knox-Macaulay was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at the age of two and faced almost three years of intensive treatment and chemotherapy.

The little boy was into the final stages of his maintenance treatment, which is a low dose of chemotherapy, and had been responding well.

However, he suffered a relapse in September and finally lost his fight on December 18.

His parents Anneli Fleming-Brown, 40, and Huxley Knox-Macaulay, 40, both originally from Ipswich, but now living in Brighton, paid tribute to their son's bravery.

Mr Knox-Macaulay, a deputy headteacher, said: "He was very, very stoic. He was extremely brave the whole way through. He had quite a high tolerance threshold.

"It's as bad as you can imagine but he left us with some fantastic memories and touched all the people he came into contact with. He had a strong sense of identity and zest for life.

"We always knew there was a risk he could relapse at any time on or off treatment.

"But he was proceeding very well with on chemotherapy. He was on maintenance therapy for about a year and unfortunately he relapsed last September. We tried some other aggressive treatment to try and get the disease pushed back but not one worked.

"In November, we realised that the condition was totally life-limiting and he died on December 18. Unfortunately the disease moved so quickly he was physically not in any state to have any other therapy."

Mr Knox-Macaulay praised the Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood (CLIC) nurse, Francis, who was involved throughout his son's illness.

He said: "One of the keys things was that he was available to discuss anything from pain relief through to our concerns about the effect on our young daughter who's eight. They did everything from supporting us through the palliative care stage, administering pain relief including morphine."

Mr Knox-Macaulay's friend Alistair Dick, a science teacher at Westbourne High School in Ipswich, is running the London Marathon on April 18 in aid CLIC.

He has pledged to raise £1,400, most of which he has raised already thanks to family and friends, and is hoping to take the final total beyond £2,000.

Mr Dick, 41, from Rushmere St Andrew has been friends with Mr Knox-Macaulay since the age of 11, said: "I was so devastated by it I felt the need to so something useful.

"I know Huxley and Anneli had a lot of support from the CLIC nurses and it's clearly very important work what they do."

The East Anglian Daily Times set up the CLIC into Action appeal, which seeks to help East Anglian children suffering from cancer and leukaemia. More than £70,000 has been raised to fund a children's cancer nurse and play specialist in East Anglian hospitals.

Anyone wishing to donate funds can send a cheque, payable to CLIC into Action, to CLIC, 8 Wren Close, Thurston, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP313TQ.