Oscar Saxelby-Lee returns home after cancer treatment

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Media caption,

Oscar Saxelby-Lee reunites with friends after treatment

A six-year-old boy has returned home following months of treatment in Singapore for an aggressive form of leukaemia.

Oscar Saxelby-Lee, from Worcester, flew with his parents for CAR-T therapy with the help of £500,000 raised through crowdfunding.

After six months cancer free, he has been able to return to the UK.

His mother Olivia said: "To bring him home safe and sound is everything we could have wished for."

"It was so emotional, the minute those wheels landed on UK ground we were all just in tears. Oscar was screaming, he was so, so proud of himself - as he should be," she said.

On their way home, Oscar and his parents also stopped at his school, Pitmaston Primary, where he had an emotional reunion with some of his friends.

Image source, Hand in Hand for Oscar
Image caption,

Oscar Saxelby-Lee's family shared a video of the six-year-old leaving the hospital

Image source, Hand In Hand for Oscar
Image caption,

Oscar Saxelby-Lee and his parents spent Christmas in Singapore

Ms Saxelby said the family would now be quarantining at home for the next 14 days and planned to "just enjoy our home for the first couple of days" before a socially distanced reunion with other relatives.

Oscar's head teacher Kate Wilcock praised the community for supporting him and his family.

She said: "If the whole community hadn't come together, would we be having this amazing news today?

"No we wouldn't, because he wouldn't have got to Singapore if everyone hadn't fought to raise that money and do all the different events that have taken place."

Ms Saxelby previously said the therapy, which was not available to Oscar on the NHS, was specifically developed for individual patients and involves reprogramming their immune system cells, which are used to target the cancer.

Oscar had been treated at Birmingham Children's Hospital for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia since December 2018.

Next week he will return to the hospital for tests, and will be monitored every few weeks but is "hopefully on the recovery to full health now", his mother said.

They are also due to return to Singapore in six months' time.

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