Chesterfield mum spent weeks alone as baby son battled rare cancer - while Downing Street 'partied'

Fiona Wallace, from Staveley, gave birth to her son Leonardo on November 13 2020.

The midwife at Chesterfield Royal Hospital found a lump the size of an orange on his belly and a few days later, it was found to be a rare cancerous tumour called a hepatoblastoma.

Leonardo was transferred to Leeds Hospital for treatment and due to Covid rules, Fiona had to cut out contact with her daughters and parents in order to stay with her son.

She said: “Nobody could come to Leeds with me. No one was with me while he was having his operations, I was just relying on video calls and had no one there to turn to.

“I had to leave my two daughters at home with my parents while I stayed in the hospital. I was there for a month without seeing my girls. They missed me, they were crying, but I couldn’t go back to see them or anything.

“Leonardo was in pain the whole time, we didn’t even know if he was going to survive or not and I was coping all on my own - it was just horrible.”

After six rounds of chemotherapy, several blood transfusions and two operations, the tumour was removed. Leonardo is recovering, although he lost half of his liver during the second operation and is suffering from hearing loss due to the chemotherapy.

Fiona said that after going through all of this alone, she was furious when she saw the revelations about apparent parties being held at Downing Street during lockdown.

“I had to suffer in Leeds on my own and had no one to support me while they were all having parties. No one else was allowed to do that.

“While Boris was having fun partying, I had to have my birthday worried sick in Leeds Hospital and no one to turn to.

"We and the doctors didn't even know if Leonardo would survive or not due to it being so dangerously close to the main artery to the heart.”

She added: “It’s one rule for them and another for us - Boris has gone and enjoyed himself on his birthday while people have lost their loved ones and couldn’t even see them.

“Even the Queen was there on her own for Prince Philip’s funeral - everyone’s sacrificed something while he’s there just partying.”