Plucky Mark’s battled liver cancer and won (From Echo)

Plucky Mark’s battled liver cancer and won

8:00am Friday 3rd July 2009 in

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BRAVE, stoic and determined are just three words to describe schoolboy Mark Suttling who has beaten liver cancer at the age of 12.

His family were left reeling when doctors told them Mark, then aged 11, had a tumour growing inside his liver.

He had been in the middle of his mock SATs exams in February at Sunnymede Junior School in Billericay when he started feeling ill.

His mum Sam, 34, recalls how school staff phoned her to say he didn’t seem right, but true to form, Mark was refusing to leave his exams early.

After getting him home and seeing how ill he was, mum and dad, Gary, 38, took him to Basildon Hospital where doctors swiftly referred him to King’s College Hospital in London for surgery.

After eight hours of surgery to remove the tumour, which weighed a whopping 3.5kgs, Mark was left drained and weak on his right-side.

Doctors then had more bad news for the family.

They had discovered tumours in Mark’s lungs as well, had to be removed.

Luckily, the lung tumours were benign.

After they’d been cut out, the brave lad was put on a six-month course of chemo-therapy.

Stalwartly refusing to take pain killers and morphine, Mark spent the rest of the year in and out of hospital, going into school in a wheelchair whenever he felt strong enough.

Now, nearly a year and a half on, Mark is doing well and thriving at the Billericay School.

The brave boy – who has two brothers, a three-year-old Joseph and 11-year-old Harry – said: “I feel a lot stronger than I did. I’m getting there.”

Mrs Suttling, of Stansted Road, Billericay, said: “It’s a success story, and I’m so proud of him.

“He’s such a strong boy. All he wanted to do was go back to school and he would never wear a cap when he had no hair. He’s adamant people take him as he is.”

She added: “I’m also proud of Harry.

“He’s never once moaned about missing out on anything because of looking after Mark.

“He’s only young, but he’s handled it wonderfully.”

About his new school and whether his new friends ask about his illness, Mark said: “Sometimes they ask me and I show them my scars. I’m not worried about it.

“I want to make sure they have the facts right.

“Sometimes people get it wrong and think I might be disabled.”

Former teachers thanked for support shown to youngster

MARK’S family say they were overwhelmed by the kindness and understanding shown by Sunnymede Junior School, in Meadow Way, Billericay, throughout the 12-year-old’s battle with cancer.

Mum Sam said: “We want to thank Catherine King who got all of Mark’s class to make him Easter cards and write letters to him.

“She made sure Mark never felt left behind and always knew what was going on while he was away.” She also praised teachers John Jackson and Ben Varley, who showed they were thinking of Mark and all he was going through in an unusual way – by shaving off their hair.

Mrs Suttling explained it came about after Mark’s brother, Harry, said he would shave off his hair to raise money for the hospital which gave Mark his lifesaving operation.

The youngster also wanted to keep Mark company, having lost all his hair as a result of his chemotherapy. When the two teachers heard about Harry’s fundraising efforts, they pledged that if he raised £750 on his own they would join in and shave their hair too.

They ended up raising more than £2,000 thanks to donations from staff and parents.

Sam said: “The school went out of its way to help us.

“I don’t think every school would have done that and I’m so grateful to them.”

Karen Cooke, the school’s headteacher, said: “We are more than happy to help. We’re part of the community and that’s what we do here.

“While Mark was going through the worst of treatment there was no way he could cope with a normal timetable, but we tried to work around and make sure he didn’t miss too much.

“Mark and Harry are both lovely young gentlemen, the kind of pupils you love to have in school."