Boy's Viral Moment Feeling Wind in Hair After Cancer Treatment Moves Nation
An eight-year-old boy battling leukemia has captured the hearts of millions with a poignant viral video showing him laughing as the wind blows through his hair after losing it to cancer treatment. Lewie Johnston and his mother, Katie, appeared on ITV's This Morning to share their emotional journey, detailing the diagnosis, treatment, and the unexpected online fame that followed.
The Heartbreaking Clip That Went Viral
Last month, Katie Johnston shared a touching video on social media of her son Lewie, then aged three, giggling with joy as his hair was swept back by the wind during a car ride. The clip, filmed after Lewie had lost his hair due to cancer treatment, was heartbreakingly captioned: “Just a boy feeling the wind in his hair after losing it to cancer.” It quickly amassed over 600,000 likes, drawing support from celebrities and fans worldwide, and led to their appearance on This Morning.
On the show, Katie recounted how the video “blew up overnight”, leaving her in tears when she first recorded it. “I’m sobbing, because he’s done it from a young age, when he didn’t have his hair, it was heartbreaking. He looked so different, and it’s nice to have that back and just recorded it,” she told hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard. Katie, who habitually documents moments with her children, explained, “I’m a person who takes pictures and videos all the time, because you never know what’s around the corner, so I like to capture everything. I didn’t think anything of it for quite a while and then recently saw it, and thought, I’ll just share that, it makes me smile.”
Lewie's Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Journey
Lewie was diagnosed with leukemia during the first COVID-19 lockdown, a moment Katie described as life-changing. “You are thrown into a world that you didn’t know existed. You know it exists, but it’s never your child at the end of the day; it’s always somebody else’s child, so when it is your child, it’s life-changing. You’re thrown into a completely different world,” she said.
Before the diagnosis, Katie noticed warning signs, including unusual bruising. “The first warning signs were bruising, in places where you wouldn’t typically find bruising to begin with,” she recalled. After a GP suggested low iron and ordered a blood test, they rushed to the hospital. “We walked into the hospital, and now I know that they knew. They just looked at him, and they knew he was head-to-toe. He had walked that morning past the door frame and had slightly bumped his head, very slightly, which came out with a big bruise. It said leukemia, and I thought, no, absolutely not him. It didn’t cross my mind until it unfortunately was.”
Treatment involved months of steroids, which caused Lewie to “balloon” in size and lose his ability to walk temporarily. Katie shared, “He couldn’t walk for about two months, he was playing on the floor with his siblings, I had to pick him up because he couldn’t get up. He went up three ages in sizes, obviously lost his hair, just lost him. I kept thinking, ‘I’ve lost him,’ he’s here, but he’s not here. I was grieving for him, but he was still alive; it was so surreal how he’d changed so quickly.”
Relapse and Ongoing Battle
Devastatingly, Lewie has since relapsed and is currently undergoing further treatment. He receives oral chemotherapy nightly and undergoes a lumbar puncture monthly, with treatment set to conclude next February, when he hopes to ring the bell again. The family has turned to GoFundMe for support, posting, “I never imagined I’d ever have to say this, but unfortunately our Lewie has leukaemia again, it’s come back! We are absolutely heartbroken and devastated, doesn’t come close! We will know more going forward, but it’s highly likely he will need a bone marrow transplant.”
Katie praised the medical team, calling them “brilliant” and noting their resilience. “It’s a tough job, you have to be tough as a parent and obviously as a doctor, nurse or a play specialist. They’re there to distract, they do their best and sometimes get the brunt of it, and they just carry on. It never affects them, and it’s just so lovely because we know that if we do have a long day, like a lumber puncture day, we know they’re there to help us as well.”
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX, continuing to share stories like Lewie's that highlight the resilience of families facing childhood cancer.
