Cancer Research UK Little Star award for Adam from Boscombe

This time last year Paulina Trzcinska and Adam Lewandowski from Boscombe were forced to spend the entire festive season apart from his siblings while he received treatment in Manchester for orbital rhabdomyosarcoma.

Now the cancer in his eye has gone, the family is looking forward to a huge celebration together.

Paulina, 36, said: “It will be the best Christmas ever to be together because it’s like a miracle. When we had some scans before, it looked like there was still some cancer there and we were worried about what it would look like in a few months’ time.

“But the doctors have confirmed it has all gone and we are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas spent with all the family.”

To recognise his bravery, Adam, who was diagnosed with the disease at the age of three, has received a Cancer Research UK for Children and Young People Star Award, in partnership with TK Maxx.

Mum, Paulina first noticed something was wrong when Adam’s eyelid had begun to swell. Initially, doctors thought it was an infection but her mother’s instinct told her it was something more.

Paulina said, “Adam never complained but I just knew something was wrong. I did worry that the doctors would think, ‘You again, you again’ but I knew it was something serious. He was finally referred for an MRI and in July 2020 they found a mass on his orbit.

“You will never forget the moment when they tell you your child has cancer. The clock stops when you hear it. I was falling apart, I was in pieces.”

Adam, who attends King’s Park Academy, had a biopsy and an operation to remove the tumour but four days later, it grew back twice as large.

Paulina said: “You can’t believe it is happening and you ask, ‘Why him?’ I was scared every day, but you just do everything to save his life and just follow that path.

“We did tell him he was ill but he didn’t really understand. He would talk about cancer like we talk about the flu and he was always smiling, no matter how bad it was.

“He would say to me, ‘Don’t worry, I will never give up Mummy.”

While Adam continued his chemotherapy, on December 16 last year, he and Paulina travelled to Manchester to spend six weeks undergoing proton beam therapy – a type of radiation that is aimed directly at the cancer site.

They knew the treatment was necessary but it meant leaving behind Adam’s siblings, 14-year-old Oliver and 12-year-old Alicja with their grandmother Wanda.

Paulina said: “Christmas is a special time and should be spent with family, so it was hard. But I had to keep my spirits up for Adam. He was always happy and smiling and that really helped him. He never said there was anything wrong and never said he was in pain.”

Adam completed 28 sessions of chemotherapy and finally rang the bell to mark the end of his treatment on May 12th 2020. However, scans still showed some areas of concern. Thankfully doctors now believe it is scarring from the radiation and the family has been told there is no evidence of cancer.

Adam Lewandowski and his mum Paulina.

Paulina said: “The official letter just came through and it is the best present ever. Now he can be a child again.

“He asked to be a donkey in his first nativity at school. He wore his costume and was the happiest child. I cry every time he achieves something like that.”

Describing why he deserves his award, Paulina said: “He is the bravest of the brave and he is so resilient. All the children that I met deserve to have that award, watching them going through what they need to go through.

“Now Adam keeps saying he is a superhero. He knows how special he is and he shows and tells everyone, ‘That’s my star for my cancer.’”