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R.I.P Keiton Vincent
Knight 2/12/98 - 1/3/07
By Keiton's mum, Paris:
 "It
breaks my heart and soul to tell you all that my lil
angel passed away at 9am on Thursday 1st March.
He carried on living life to the full in true cheeky
Keiton style until Tuesday evening, when the pain
got too much and he just couldn't stay awake and had
no energy to speak. We eased his pain as much as
possible and his nurse Francis, who was with us most
the time said “he thought Keiton was very
comfortable and he wouldn't have changed a thing”
Keiton had all the people who loved him the most
with him the whole time, myself, his nanny, grandad,
uncle Warren and auntie Starr and my boyfriend Coree.
He passed very peacefully leaving this world just as
it was when he came into it with me and nanny with
him …clever lil soilder.
It was a beautiful sunny day; God opened the heavens
to guide his Angel home.
Words can not begin to explain the pain, loss, shock
and devastation me and the family feel right now.
Words are failing me now so i will end in saying I
Love You my baby bear, i feel lost with out you and
i'll miss you so so very much...."
Our thoughts and condolences go out to Keiton's family
and friends at this dreadful time.
Details of the original appeal
for Keiton appear below:
Keiton's Cancer Has
Come Back!
 Keiton
Knight first became sick in January 2003. His eye
started swelling up and then he couldn't put any
weight on his left leg. After months of pain and
x-rays and tests he was finally taken into hospital,
by this time he was paralyzed from the waist down
and fighting for life.
In June 2003 he was diagnosed with Acute
Lymphoblast Leukaemia (ALL) Cancer of the Blood. The doctors said it was
unlikely that he would ever walk again, yet he is now running around! At
that time he had to have chemo treatment for 3 years, everything was
going really well until the last month of treatment in July 2006 when
Keiton relapsed with a different type of cancer.
It is very rare for this to happen and it is
a very aggressive type of cancer. Keiton's families were told that the
only way to give him a chance of survival would be with a Stem Cell
Transplant. The best way to do this is with a Bone Marrow Donor but due
to Keiton being mixed raced, one parent white the other black, we were
told that it would be very difficult to find a match for him.
Keiton's uncle, Warren Knight, then started
an appeal for mixed raced people to come forward and join the Bone
Marrow register. Keiton's mum, Paris Knight appeared on TV, radio and in
newspaper's making appeals and we managed to help recruit over 1,500
individuals to sign up to the Bone Marrow register. This is a fantastic
achievement and undoubtedly save the life of many individuals.
Sadly no donor has been found for Keiton
after searching around the world of 10 Million people on the register.
About 6 weeks into the appeal to find a
donor, the doctor's told Keiton's family that because of the unique
tissue type in Keiton's Bone Marrow the chances of EVER finding a match
were "nearly impossible" and without some type of transplant they
predicted that Keiton's cancer would be back within 2 months, and he
would be dead with in 6 months. This news was by far some of the hardest
news the family had ever to accept so far.
The Doctors then outlined some other some
options:
1. A Blood Cord Transplant, which is the
stem cells from the umbilical cord of a new born baby, but the chance's
of survival after transplant were only 20% and his quality of life
during this time would be dreadful.
2. To take Keiton home and hope the chemo
alone would cure him, which they all felt would not happen, but at least
he would have some peace before he died.
This was not an option from the family's perspective. They refused to
give up on him.
Keiton's doctor then went on to say that
they had never performed a blood cord transplant before; in fact the
whole of the UK had hardly ever done it and was technology was up to 5
years behind the USA.
Research carried out by the family revealed
that the USA pioneered the field of Cord Blood Transplants. Surgeons in
the USA offered Keiton a 55% chance of survival after transplant.
Keiton's family desperately started fund raising as £500,000 was needed
to fund life saving treatment for Keiton.
The fund raising went really well with the
public in the UK, family and friends showing so much love, support,
kindness and willingness to help us raise this money. Large and small
events and fundraising activities involving celebrities, schools,
colleges, business and local communities took place all over the
country, and even abroad.
After weeks of fund raising and public
appeals £50,000 has been raised, but time has now run out. He HAS to
have a transplant before the cancer comes back again.
Paris visited the UK's top hospitals as she
had to make sure that Keiton could get the best possible treatment the
UK had to offer if they didn't get him to the US. She decided that the
Transplant & Isolation unit in Bristol was the place.
Since then there has been yet more
disappointment. The medics revealed that a 4 out of 6 cord match had
been found for Keiton but further tests revealed that one was not
suitable or had been reserved for someone else.
Finally the family were told that 2 cords
had been found and due to neither of them having enough stem cells in
them for Keiton's weight the would perform a Double Cord Transplant,
this was the best option for Keiton and that the cords had been reserved
for him and he was to have his transplant on 5th January 2007.
Keiton's mum, Paris, received a phone call
on Monday the 18th which tore her and keiton's family to bits one more
time…..Keiton's Cancer had come back.
The Cancer had come back in a very
aggressive form and there was no way the Transplant could go ahead now
as the Cancer would be too strong. Keiton was admitted into The Royal
Marsden Hospital in Sutton on Wednesday.
Keiton will have to now under go the
strongest Chemo treatment he has had so far. His body is getting weaker
and he is suffering more adverse reactions, yet when he's not feeling
too ill he still manager's to put a brave face on, he's such a soldier!
Keiton and his mum, Paris, now have to stay
at the Marsden for nothing less then 6 weeks and then wait to see if the
Chemo has worked and he goes into remission for the 3rd time. Keiton was
only given a 20-30% chance of survival after transplant before and
Doctor's told the family that if he needed to go into remission another
time it would knock his chance's down by 20%, so that doesn't leave much
to go on and Paris has been warned that there is a very high chance he
will die in hospital trying to recover!
Keiton's mum say's
"Please everyone keep praying, sending positive vibe's or what-ever it
is you do, that you think can help as all of your support so far has
made such a difference to Keiton and I and we could never thank you all
enough"
UPDATE
Keiton's mum, Paris says : 17th
January 2007
Keiton and I have returned home now.
Keiton had a much harder time dealing with the
intensive chemo effect's this time round and tough
time trying to recover and is still having to have
blood transfusions everyday at our local hospital
now were home, but he is loving being at home and
seeing some friends.
We now have to wait for Keiton to
have a Bone Marrow sample taken so we can find out
if the chemo has worked and he has once again gone
into remission.
We were hoping that he would have
that this friday the 19th Jan but unfortunately
Keiton's blood count has still not recovered, so we
have to wait till either the 25th or 26th Jan.
We have been told that "If" he has
gone into remission then he can go straight to
Bristol for the Stem Cell Transplant, BUT if he
hasn't then the Doctors don't believe there is
anything more they can do for him!
I'm very scared but still staying
positive and trying to make sure Keiton enjoys his
time out of hospital as much as possible.
To go to Keiton's website please
click here
click here to return to home page
click here to find out how you
can register
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