Good Friday Appeal: Harry’s bravery fuels family’s resilience

A Geelong mother has revealed why her five-year-old’s resilience is the secret weapon in her family’s battle against childhood leukaemia.

Five year old Harry Thomas’s remarkable resilience has become a source of strength for parents Luke and Melissa and sisters Mia and Ruby. Picture: Brad Fleet

Amid a terrifying battle with leukaemia, five-year-old Harry Thomas’ resilience has inspired his whole family to handle the crisis with perseverance and strength.

Harry’s mum Melissa Romano has shared the Herne Hill family’s story as the Good Friday Appeal gears up to raise millions in crucial support for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, where staff not only saved her son’s life but also ensured his voice was heard every step of the way.

Harry has Pre B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, a deadly blood cancer that destroys healthy blood cells in the bone marrow.

In addition to chemotherapy, Harry’s treatment also involves frequent and invasive spinal tap procedures required to analyse his marrow, and he can often be in hospital for weeks at a time.

Ms Romano said “a million questions” were running through her head when the diagnosis came in September last year, the first being: “Is my son going to die?”

“You try not to relive it. I’ll never forget the look on my husband Luke’s face,” she said.

“We were crying pretty bad, and that’s when Harry said ‘It’s OK mum, don’t cry,’.”

Harry was diagnosed with leukaemia in September last year. Picture: Brad Fleet

Faced with every parent’s worst nightmare, Ms Romano said the actions of RCH staff immediately put things in perspective.

“The first thing they said, after telling us it was leukaemia, was that right now it’s about keeping Harry safe, and that’s exactly what they did,” Ms Romano said.

“He wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for everything they have done for him since then.”

Now seven months into a two-and-a-half-year treatment program, Harry’s resilience continues to inspire the whole family.

“He asks questions like ‘why am I sick?’, or ‘why do my friends not have to go to the hospital?’ and we’ll tell him that it’s just bad luck, but you just have to keep going, and he just says “okay” and keeps going,” Ms Romano said.

“He’ll have a spinal tap in the morning, chemo in the afternoon, and then we’ll come back to Geelong, and he’s outside kicking the footy like nothing happened.

‘He just keeps going’: Harry’s parents are endlessly proud of their son’s perseverance. Picture: Brad Fleet

“It’s not something you ever want your child to go through, but in some weird sense, he makes it easier for Luke and me because he just takes it on and gets on with it,” she added.

Asked how her son is able to remain resilient, Ms Romano spoke at length about his special relationship with the nurses at RCH, who make every effort possible to ensure “his voice is heard”.

“They always seek out what way will work best for Harry and it makes so much of a difference during those moments,” she said.

“It’s a phenomenal place, we only focus on the positives now and those positives exist because of the RCH … It’s the genetic testing, the decades of research, that’s why Harry is still here today.”

Hosted on April 18, the Good Friday appeal is now in its 94th year, and last year netted over $23m in crucial funding for the RCH’s lifesaving work.

Originally published as Good Friday Appeal: Harry’s bravery fuels family’s resilience