Kieran was a happy, sociable toddler in good health, but when he was away on holiday, his parents, Steve and Emily, started to notice some changes in the way he walked. So, when they got home, they went to their GP.  

The family were referred to the hospital for scans and tests to rule things out; they weren’t expecting anything serious. This was when their world came crashing down, and Kieran was diagnosed with bilateral Optic Giloma. 

Kieran underwent multiple surgeries to save his life and treatment like chemotherapy and radiotherapy. He had lived with a brain tumour for eight years, but in 2019 his health began to decline following a bleed on his tumour, and he was referred to Little Havens by his Community Nurse. 

In March 2022, Kieran, age 13, was in Intensive Care at Great Ormond Street following a cardiac arrest, and the family made the difficult decision to remove his life support. 

Emily explains, “Once we had removed Kieran’s life support, we were like, what’s next? Then Steve and I said to each other, ‘There’s Little Havens’.” 

“Because it all happened very quickly, coming to Little Havens gave us time to face what had happened.” 

After Kieran died, he spent a week at Little Havens before his funeral in the ‘Woodland Suite’. 

“Little Havens helped us navigate what’s next because we’d never organised a funeral before, let alone for our child. They made sure we ate, which was the last thing on our mind. The Care Team supported us through it all; they helped us navigate something nobody ever plans for.” 

“They held our hands, wiped our tears and guided us through what we needed to do, something we would have struggled to have done by ourselves.” 

“Little Havens’ motto is ‘Making every day count’, and that’s what they did for Kieran and our family. Even after he died, they made the days we stayed at Little Havens in the Woodland Suite count for us too.” 

“I always tell the Kieran’s brothers it’s OK to feel upset because we loved Kieran. We can’t change what’s happened, so we have to make the most of every day now. If I knew this would be our journey, I would still do it again.” 

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Published in 2024