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Filip Kwasny had to spend the last days of his life in London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital after he was diagnosed with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, which is a condition where abnormal blood cells in the bone marrow start to accumulate, the Metro reports.
Filip’s cancer had already spread to his intestines. He had been under palliative care as doctors realized that there nothing could be done anymore to save the little boy’s life. He gave his gratitude to people who decided to donate money to his crowdfunding campaign to help pay for his medical bills.
Piotr Kwasny, Filip’s dad, is aware of how short his son’s life would be. His next goal now is to make sure that his son’s wish after he passes away would come true, and that is to be buried next to his mother. So far, he has raised more than $45,000.
According to Metro, a family friend said, “Piotr is overwhelmed, he can’t believe people care so much. He needs sometime for it to sink in. He wants to thank everyone. He is ecstatic and shocked.”
Piotr, who’s 40 years old, said, “He says that I’m his angel that is looking after him here and that his mum will look after him when he is in heaven. I don’t know how well he remembers his mother, as he was so young when she passed away, but he has visited her grave when he was well enough to speak to her.
“Filip wants to be buried with his mother, so we will need to organize that locally and re-bury them together. He wants her to look after him. I will only be able to take Filip back to Poland myself. His stepmother and siblings will have to stay in the UK, as I do not have the means to arrange for passports and transportation to Poland for them all.
“This is just a very stressful and distressing time for all of us. I did not imagine that I would have to bury my child…you shouldn’t go before your child.”
Piotr was also diagnosed with an illness related to spina bifida or a gap in the spine, diabetes, and hypertension. Piotr is unable to work and couldn’t really get the fund to pay not only for his own medical bills but also for the boy’s wish.
Filip’s mom, Agnieszka, died when she was only 33 years old from cancer in 2011 in Poland. The whole family is from Poland. And Filip won’t be able to go through the travel back to their home country.
Piotr said, “The doctors do not know how long Filip has left. There is a bell in the Fox Ward outside Filip’s room. Ward patients ring the bell three times when their treatment is done and they are leaving. Filip, my son, will never get to ring that bell.”
In the village of Wadowice, Poland lies the body of Agnieszka and also the place where Filip’s parents married in 2009. Piotr had since married another person and bore a daughter.
Piotr said, “My wife had a large growth on her neck, I believe her lymph nodes, but we didn’t know what that was. She collapsed in the street one day and was taken to hospital, l where they did an emergency operation to remove it which lasted for six hour. ‘She was diagnosed with sarcoma. The cancer spread throughout her body. She only weighed 20kg when we lost her.”
Filip was only two years old when doctors diagnosed him with cancer. His father explained that his son underwent different types of treatment but they all failed miserably.
Piotr said, “His abdomen has collected a lot of fluid and is enlarge, which causes him lots of pain and pushes up on his lungs, so he has difficulty breathing. He cannot eat as he throws up.
“He is either drowsy or screaming in pain. It’s heart-breaking for me to watch. He knows that he is dying and that there’s nothing they can do for him. He knows that he doesn’t have much time left, we both do.”
Filip had passed away last Friday March 24. Piotr gave his message about his son: “My little boy has now gone, there will forever be an emptiness beside me and in my heart; but he will never be forgotten and he will always be loved.”
