HUNTER AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

When Danielle Searle, 37, learned her son had cancer, a purple-suited hero helped them through

- ELAINE HAYWARD AND LOUISE GREGSON.

Scrolling through my camera roll, I looked back at the pictures I'd just taken of my children cuddling up together. I should have been smiling happily at the joy on their faces but, instead, a feeling of dread was building in my stomach. It was September 2015, and while my twins Connor and Alex, both then three, and my baby, Hunter, four months, all looked adorable in each picture, Hunter's pupils were glowing white and I knew exactly what that could mean.

My husband Adrian, then 27, had survived childhood bilateral retinoblastoma, causing tumours in both his eyes. As a hereditary disease, we were warned when we had children that white-glowing pupils in photos were a sign. Now, here they were in our newborn baby.

The next day, our GP sent us straight to the oncology ward at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, where our fears were confirmed. Hunter had bilateral retinoblastoma. 'Caught early, it's curable,' the doctor assured us, but I couldn't stop the tears from falling. Hunter was so tiny and helpless, and I just hugged him tightly.

Three days later, Hunter started chemotherapy and all I could do was comfort him through it. Over the next 10 months, doctors tried three different drugs across six rounds of chemo, and I stayed with Hunter in hospital while the twins were with their grandparents so Adrian could continue working.