A three-year-old boy was diagnosed with a lethal illness after his parents initially dismissed his symptoms as winter bugs picked up at nursery. Manraj Singh Hans began suffering regular colds along with high temperatures, which he struggled to shift, but his mum and dad thought he was just tired "because it was winter."
Repeated dismissals before diagnosis
Dad Narinder, 47, and mum Parm, 42, took him to the doctors but were sent away with antibiotics after being told he most likely had an infection. Manraj's symptoms continued to be repeatedly dismissed by healthcare professionals before he was eventually diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).
Narinder, of Biggleswade, said: "We'd give him Calpol and they (the symptoms) would go away, but then come back a week or so later and go on a little bit longer. We just thought, 'It's the winter season, we're going to be getting colds and bugs'. He was at nursery, too, so we thought he was picking stuff up there."
He added: "We took him to the GP to get checked out and were told he could potentially have a urine infection. We were given some antibiotics, but that didn't seem to help. Soon after, Parm also took him to the hospital to have him looked at because he was saying his legs were hurting. They checked him and said it could be to do with the urine infection or some sort of other infection, and we were sent on our way."
Turning point
As Manraj's temperatures continued, Narinder and Parm made several more visits to the GPs, but his symptoms were again put down to seasonal illnesses and infections. However, when Narinder noticed blood in his nappy, they were eventually taken more seriously.
Narinder, who works as a strategic customer success manager for a tech company, said: "I took his nappy down one day and he had a little speck of blood in it. So, we booked an appointment for him that afternoon at the GP again. Parm and I picked him up from school and we both took him. On that day, I think that the doctor we saw must have known what the symptoms could potentially be. We explained to her that he was, by then, also walking with a limp. This GP told us to go to straight to A&E to get a blood test, and she made the arrangements for us to go and do it."
The youngster was diagnosed with ALL, a type of blood cancer which affects around 400 children in the UK each year, in February 2023. Narinder recalled: "I remember the hospital being very busy and we waited around for a long time, still making plans for the next day, for one of his best friends to come over for a sleepover. We thought we'd be out of there soon, but then the night doctor came on and said we'd have to wait overnight. We did the blood test and ended up staying in one of the rooms there that night, the three of us."
He added: "And we were thinking, 'All right, in the morning, they'll come and tell us what they found, and then we can go home from there'. But the next morning, a doctor came around and said, 'I'm sorry to be the bearer of the bad news, but your son has leukaemia'. Within a few hours we were being transferred to from Bedford Hospital to Addenbrookes in Cambridge, but we didn't really have anything with us that we needed. We didn't even have a night bag, because when we went to A&E, we didn't think we'd be staying. It was obviously a huge shock."
Treatment and recovery
Manraj underwent two years of gruelling treatment and procedures, including intensive chemotherapy, steroids, and lumbar punctures, during which he suffered a number of side effects and complications. Narinder said: "Once he started taking some of the steroids and chemo, you could see a change in his energy. He was sleeping a lot; he lost his appetite as well. He lost all the strength in his legs, too, they just couldn't move for very long. Even now, he still struggles on long walks. And one day, he had a seizure, caused by one of the drugs he was on. I remember the red button being pushed and the room suddenly filling up with doctors when it was happening. It was all really scary. It was a really traumatic time for him."
Now cancer-free, Manraj, now seven, has raised £7,000 for the CCLG: The Children & Young People's Cancer Association. Proud dad Narinder said: "Manraj has really driven it all and made us stick to our promise of raising money each September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The fundraising is something we'll continue to do as it's really important to us, and the awareness side, too."
Manraj has been in remission since March 2025 and is being monitored with regular follow-up appointments. Narinder said he is "doing really well", adding: "He's getting back into activities that he enjoyed doing before (cancer treatment). He's been getting on with his swimming and been playing football in a team regularly as well. He's not quite at the same pace as everyone else, but he never gives up."
The CCLG is now urging the public to recognise the signs and symptoms of cancer in children. Some of the signs and symptoms of ALL include: becoming tired and lethargic, developing bruises, taking longer to stop bleeding, bleeding gums or heavy nosebleeds, a purplish rash on the skin that does not disappear when you press a glass against it, having infections, fevers and sweating (especially at night), swollen lymph glands, and pain in the bones or joints.
