'So cruel': Grieving mum who lost child reveals her 'rainbow baby' has cancer
A couple have raised £70,000 so they can be close to their newborn son as he battles cancer a year after their first child died.
Sophie Kitcher, 34, from Ware in Hertfordshire, revealed the "cruel" news earlier this month that her one-month-old son, Ralphie, had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Her first child, Huxley, who had Down's syndrome, died while surgeons tried to repair a hole in his intestine last July when he was just three days old.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Sophie and Luke Kitcher with accommodation while Ralphie receives chemotherapy at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for the next five months.
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At the moment, only one parent can stay over at the hospital at a time, so they have no choice but to use hotels and rental properties if they want to be together during the treatment.
Ralphie, who has been given the middle name Leo after his late brother's star sign, was born on 5 October
Mrs Kitcher said he arrived to "help heal mummy and daddy's broken hearts".
But on 31 October, the family received the devastating news that Ralphie had leukemia and had been given a 30% chance of surviving.
He has already started chemotherapy and his parents remain hopeful he will pull through.
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Mrs Kitcher wrote on Instagram: “If we haven't already been through hell and back here we are again, our beautiful darling rainbow boy has been diagnosed with leukaemia.
“I don't understand how life can be so cruel and my baby has now got to go through this.
“Ralphie you are our purpose and the reason we are still both here today fighting for you with your brother looking over us.
"Please everyone say your prayers for us, mummy and daddy are absolutely broken in pieces. How has this happened you are so perfect."
In an update, she added: “I can't have anything happen to him he has to come home with us where he belongs forever!!! Please beat this my Ralphie ur our whole world my heart is in absolute pieces !”
A message on the GofundMe page, which has surpassed its initial target of £50,000, said: “Finally after the heartbreak of losing their son Huxley, our dear friends Sophie and Luke welcomed their precious boy Ralphie Leo Kitcher into the world.
“Their dreams had finally come true but on Monday 31st October this turned into their worst nightmare, when Ralphie was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.”
It added: “Unfortunately GOSH don’t provide accommodation for both parents wanting to be close to their children…”
