Wednesday, 4 February, is World Cancer Day, and no one understands the impact of this terrible disease better than Jodie Jones. Hertfordshire-based community support worker Jodie, 47, is the mother of 10-year-old Jack Whyman, who lost his eye last year after being diagnosed with two types of cancer – an experience that the family could never have prepared for.
"It all started in November 2022 when Jack's eye started to droop," Jodie, who also shares children Emily, 17, and Tom, 12, with her husband Wayne, tells HELLO!. "There was no swelling or discharge, but my mum took Jack to the doctor, and they were told they needed to rule out the most serious things first. I thought they would say it was a stye or an infection."
© Jodie JonesJack was referred to Barnet Hospital for an MRI. The ophthalmologist soon referred him to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London for a second opinion. "I got a phone call saying, 'Can you go to Great Ormond Street tomorrow, pack a bag, because we need to do quite a few tests. Don't be alarmed, we're sending you to the oncology unit, but it's where we send everybody with new lumps'," Jodie recalls.
Jack receives a cancer diagnosis
It was after three days spent at GOSH that Jack was told he had cancer. "All you hear is that word 'cancer' and straight away I just like, 'I don't want him to die'. You just think of cancer, and you think of death," Jodie remembers. "I miscarried twins between my first and second child, and in my head it was just like, 'I can't lose another child'."
© Jodie JonesJodie explains that the doctor told them it was rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer. "They said the prognosis is good. This is a quick-growing cancer, but it's a quick-shrinking cancer."
Jack starts treatment
Within days, Jack started a six-month course of chemotherapy at GOSH, as well as proton beam radiotherapy at University College Hospital, which Jodie says left him looking thin, fatigued, and caused him to lose his hair. "However, when Jack was in between chemo, he bounced back quite quickly, and sometimes, he would go to school," his mother recalls.
© Jodie Jones"His school attendance was quite good, and we'd try our best, as and when it allowed us to do everything as normally as possible. He'd go to football if he were well enough to train. It wasn't at the level of everyone else or what he was before, but it was good for his mental health."
Throughout this time, Jack received care at GOSH that Jodie speaks highly of. "[I remember thinking] how lucky are we to have this hospital on our doorstep," Jodie says. "Jack has a big phobia of needles. During his treatment, he didn't need to have needles because he had a Hickman line, but in between those times, they put work in with psychologists, as well as vascular access teams and nurses who did clinical holds.
"We'd have play therapists come in and bring us different games, and there would be magicians turning up at your door or therapy dogs walking around," she continues. "Our first time at GOSH, we'd only been in our room about five minutes, and someone dressed as a Stormtrooper and Darth Vader [from Star Wars] walked into our room. We were so lucky."
Jack receives a second cancer diagnosis
In May 2023, Jack was given the all clear, but in October 2024, following a routine scan, Jack was told he had a new cancer – malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour (MPNST), a type of soft tissue sarcoma that develops in the cells that cover nerves.
"I actually think it's harder the second time. I thought he'd beaten cancer and we'd won and it was in the past." Jodie was told the news before breaking it to Jack that he'd have to undergo treatment once again. "We walked around the corner, we were out of Jack's sight, and I couldn't walk. I just stopped and cried, and it hit me."
© Jodie JonesJodie remembers how brave Jack was. "When he did cry, it would be really short, five minutes, and then it was like, 'OK, well, I beat it before, I'll beat it again'."
In the run-up to Christmas that year, Jack spent time at GOSH, where GOSH Charity arranged for him to be visited by carol singers and Santa, and receive stockings of presents. Having been told that his second battle with cancer was with a malignant peripheral nerve tumour, Jack faced chemotherapy and surgery to have his affected eye removed.
Jack undergoes eye surgery
"It was devastating, and I couldn't believe it, but we'd do whatever it took to save him," Jodie says. "He had the operation in March 2025. He had to have a lot of muscle removed. Jack wore bandages and then an eye patch."
© Jodie JonesHis mother adds: "Somehow, he took it in his stride, still playing rugby and being a cheeky, lovely boy. He even used his eye patch to his advantage, dressing as a pirate for Halloween. But he hasn't liked wearing his eye patch, and I have found it upsetting when people have made unkind remarks or asked him questions about what is wrong with his eye."
© Jodie JonesJack is fitted with a prosthetic eye
In the run-up to Christmas, Jack asked for things most kids his age desire, including his first mobile phone so he can keep in touch with new friends he has made, but he also wanted something no parent expects to hear from their child – a new eye. To Jodie and Wayne's amazement, doctors worked around the clock to sculpt him a new prosthetic eye to look like his old one.
© Jodie JonesJack's eye, which is made from acrylic, took three months to make. The family had six two-hour appointments at Guy's Hospital Maxillo-Facial Prosthetics. The prosthetic is made to measure and will be held in his socket by his eyelids, and he will be able to put it in and out himself.
© Jodie JonesReflecting on the experience
Thinking back, Jodie remembers the warm care offered to Jack by the staff at GOSH. "They are like an extension of your family," she says. "Every four months, we go back for an MRI, and they all remember him and his likes and dislikes. They link you up with certain charities as well. He went sailing with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, which we heard about through GOSH, and he went to their Christmas party."
© Jodie JonesJodie also champions the building of GOSH's new Children's Cancer Centre, which is currently being built and will mean better facilities, kinder treatments and bigger breakthroughs. GOSH Charity is urging the public to help raise funds for it through its Build it. Beat it. appeal.
She says: "The world-leading cancer centre will make such a difference to children like Jack. Having a rooftop garden will be a lovely place where patients and parents can get some fresh air and help their mental health, and the hospital school will give the children the chance to interact with each other and break up the isolation of being in the hospital," she explains.
"Clinical trials are so important. Jack's treatment was a result of trials that happened years ago, so it's amazing to think the new cancer centre might provide more access to clinical trials that could help future children with cancer, and provide much-needed hope for parents and children going through cancer."
Jodie is supporting the Omaze Cornwall House Draw, which is in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity), helping to fund a world-leading Children's Cancer Centre that will transform children's cancer care and save lives.
