A GREAT Yarmouth toddler who has been battling with a rare form of cancer for more than five months is expected to return home soon.Kallum Lynch has been at Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge, since March this year and has undergone a major operation as well as several bouts of chemotherapy.

A GREAT Yarmouth toddler who has been battling with a rare form of cancer for more than five months is expected to return home soon.

Kallum Lynch has been at Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge, since March this year and has undergone a major operation as well as several bouts of chemotherapy.

His devoted mum Joanne, who has been constantly at his bedside, feared Kallum's return to Yarmouth would mean further stays in hospital because the family home in Northgate Street could not be adapted for him.

However, following weeks of consultation between the hospital and the council, it has decided two-year-old Kallum, can be classed as an emergency and will be able to move into a new home when he leaves hospital in the next few weeks.

The family, including two-month old baby Jack, are now looking forward to moving into a three-bedroom property which will be re-modelled for Kallum who is now permanently disabled.

Joanne, 21, said: “It was extremely frustrating because there were many people working on this at the hospital filling in forms and sending them to the housing department and we were not getting anywhere.

“It would have been very distressing for me having to carry all the equipment he needs up and down the stairs in our current flat so I am glad somewhere else has been found.”

Kallum can no longer use his legs and will need special care from nurses who will call daily to help support his mum.

Although the family had been in touch with the council they were told they could not automatically be given somewhere else to live until the hospital could confirm when Kallum would be leaving hospital.

Joanne said the situation was made worse when the borough council lost documents sent by the hospital which carried details of Kallum's illness.

Steven Ford, needs manager at Yarmouth Borough Council, said the family have now been given an emergency card, meaning they were put right to the top of the list and considered very high risk if they are not housed somewhere else.

He said: “We have had confirmation from the hospital about Kallum needing different accommodation and when he will be coming out so the emergency card has been activated.”

Kallam's ordeal began in March this year as he was recovering from a bacterial stomach infection. During his recovery he found it difficult to walk and doctors first thought it was due to an irritable hip. However, further tests revealed that Kallum had a tumour on the spine and chest. Doctors at Addenbrooke's were able to remove the tumour on his spine but the tumour on his chest was inoperable and has instead been treated with several bouts of chemotherapy.

Joanne added: “We are still on tender hooks when he gets out of hospital because the doctors have said the cancer will return one day - that could be in three weeks time or 10 years time. We just want to get him better, it's difficult to think ahead but whenever it happens we will have to deal with it.”

Tragically it is not the first time the family has been hit by cancer - Joanne lost her mum Eve to breast cancer in 1993 and her sister Leanne died of cancer in 1986 at the age of four. Joanne knows she too will succumb to cancer at some stage after tests revealed she too carries the cancer gene.

Joanne has set up a webpage so give hope to families going through a similar experience. Visit www.caringbridge.org and search for Kallum Lynch.