When Jess completed the Run For The Kids before becoming a mother, she never imagined the funds supporting her own sick child.

But in February she and her husband Jack faced every parent’s worst nightmare.

Their son, Harry, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

“Harry had a lump under his neck which didn’t seem to be hurting him but we could visibly see it,” Jess said.

“So we ended up at the GP to work out what it was … then the blood results came back.”

“I was just really in a state of shock; it’s not what you expect to hear.”

Harry was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital where he has just completed his first month of the induction phase of chemotherapy. The year 2 student is expected to need treatment for the next three years.

“We know the road ahead is long for Harry and for us,” Jess said. “We just don’t know what way we are going yet so it’s been quite unsettling.”

After supporting the Good Friday Appeal for years, Jess never thought she would be on the other side.

“You watch all of the stories and you have empathy for those people but I never thought it would be me,” she said.

Jess said the hospital had supported Harry and the family in their “darkest days”.

“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” she said.

“You never want to hear that your child has cancer but if you do, this is the place that you want to be.”