Mum thought football-mad son, 9, had a cold – but he died two days later of leukaemia

A DISTRAUGHT mum believed her son was just suffering from a cold but the football-mad lad died two days later.

Josh Harber, nine, had been sick just once and was running a temperature but his mum Danielle said there was nothing to suggest anything more worrying was going on.

The Dover Rangers youth player had been taking part in a football match just the week before.

But the schoolboy from Temple Ewell in Dover was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive form of cancer which attacks the white blood cells, during the summer holidays and was dead just two days later.

Josh had two other brothers, Jack, eight, and Lewis, 14.

Danielle, who is married to Dean, both 36, told Kent Live: “He was a very energetic, caring, loving boy, who was always concerned for how everybody else was feeling.

“He always put other people first, all the time.

“He was very sporty, football-mad.

“He played for Dover Rangers and he was just an absolute angel really.

‘ABSOLUTE ANGEL’

He’d spend time with his younger brother doing Lego and Minecraft and then he’d play football for hours with the eldest one, Lewis.”

Josh was initially taken to A&E at the William Harvery Hospital in Ashford on July 7 but later transferred to St George’s Hospital in London for treatment after a blood test revealed just how ill he really was.

His illness came out of the blue for his parents, with Danielle saying he had been fine just a week before and just had “cold symptoms”.

While he had been sick once she added his brother and a sick bug the week before and she just put it down to that.

She said: “There was nothing that said he was that poorly.”

Danielle had taken him to the A&E department on July 5 because they thought he had damaged his ribs but took him back two days later when he started being sick again.

A blood test then revealed his white blood cell count was high.

The family have now set up a fund to raise money for childhood leukaemia research called Josh’s Gold Star fund.

Josh’s school, Temple Ewell Primary, held a fun day to mark what would have been Josh’s tenth birthday on September 18 and raised more than £8,500.

Danielle described the event as “absolutely perfect” and “it all just fell into place.”

She added she had been blown away by the amount of money that had been raised on the day.

To find out more about the fund click here.

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