Nick Clegg: '˜Telling son of cancer was one of the toughest things'
The former deputy prime minister and Ms Gonzalez Durantez told ITV’s Lorraine Kelly yesterday that their son Antonio, now 15, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in September last year.
He found a small, painless lump in his neck and tests found he also had lymphoma across his chest.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAfter receiving treatment on the NHS at University College Hospital in London, including four monthly cycles of chemotherapy and heavy steroids, he is in remission having suffered severe side effects including hair loss, vomiting and fatigue.
His mother said: “We dealt with it by carrying on and trying to keep things as close to the routine that we had beforehand and also being very open.
“The day that he was told, and I think that probably us telling him is one of the toughest things that we have ever done, the following day he went to school, he stood up and he told everybody ‘I have cancer’.
“That’s the way he dealt with it but other children and other families deal with it in a different way – you have to find your way.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMr Clegg said: “His lymphoma was all over his chest and his neck and he gets tested every three months, I think for a couple of years, so there is always a slight spike of anxiety with us every three months but basically he is on the road to recovery. Interestingly the thing he was most concerned about was sort of falling behind his classmates. His anxiety was more about keeping up with his classmates, keeping up at school. So it was very impressive actually.”
He added the couple’s other children, Alberto and Miguel, had taken the news well. “Once they heard from us that he will be OK, again they are just so, so practical – just ‘OK then’,” he said.
The couple are raising awareness of the charity Bloodwise, which launched a report yesterday urging more research into less toxic treatments for children with cancer.
His wife said: “(With) chemotherapy they poison your body so that you can get cured and it’s a shock to see it happen. We do realise how incredibly lucky we are both with the fact that the treatment has worked and how well he seems.”
The charity said blood cancer is the most common among children and young people, with more than 1,100 of those under 24 diagnosed in the UK every year.