How do we find out that Our Son Have Cancer

The Symptoms and Our Journey to Diagnosis

I remember when my son first started having asthma symptoms. He would often complain that his feet felt itchy, and sometimes he said they had a little pain. At that time, he was still active, always running and playing, but we noticed that his appetite slowly started to decrease.

Then occasional fever started to happen. At first, we thought it was normal for a child.

But the fever kept coming back from time to time.

Around the time my husband and I received the COVID vaccine, we became sick with symptoms, and at that time I wondered if my son might also have gotten sick. However, life continued and because he remained cheerful and active, we did not realize how often he was getting fever or becoming unwell.

Then came the day of our flight to Dubai. He already had a fever and was sick before our travel, and even after arriving in Dubai, the fever continued on and off.

We kept bringing him to hospitals for checkups, both in the Philippines and in Dubai, but we were repeatedly told that it was normal viral illness.

As time passed, there were nights when he would suddenly cry out in his sleep and say that his arms and feet were very painful. After a few days he would seem okay again, but then after a week the symptoms would return.

One time, after playing in a bungee castle, he became sick again with fever and pain in his legs. Before that, he had also experienced a stiff neck.

The doctor prescribed pain relievers, and at first they seemed to help. But eventually, the pain relievers stopped working, and there came a time when he could no longer walk.

His fever became worse—from once a month, to every other week, then weekly, then twice a week, until eventually it became an everyday struggle.

That was the moment we decided to bring him to a specialist for further testing.

After many tests and difficult days, we finally received the diagnosis that changed our lives:

Stage 4 Metastatic Neuroblastoma Cancer

It was heartbreaking, but it also gave us answers after months of uncertainty and fear. Since then, our family has continued fighting, believing, and doing everything we can to support our son through treatment, follow-up checkups, and his recovery journey.