The Hutton Family

The Hutton Family is one of our current projects. They are in dire need of assistance, read their story below.
Should you wish to assist in any way please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Candice and Laurence Hutton were dealt a devastating blow when Blake, their infant son was diagnosed with Retinablastoma at the age of 2 months. Laurence had noticed there was something wrong with Blakes left eye when he was only 2 weeks old, but the paediatrician said there was nothing wrong. Retrinablastoma can sometimes be cured with early detection and treatment, but by the time Blake was diagnosed it was at an advanced stage, had spread to his bone-marrow and started to affect his right eye as well. The left eye was immediately removed and he underwent chemo to treat the spread to the bone-marrow. This appears to have been successful, but he is tested regularly and should his bone marrow prove to be infected he will require a bone marrow transplant. During the course of his treatment doctors also discovered that this little monster fighter only has one kidney, and so extensive chemo can be very harmful to him. Chemo has now been stopped and he is having brachitherapy which is performed in Cape Town at the Red Cross Childrens Hospital for the tumour growing in his right eye. This laser therapy is the last treatment available for his condition and the next step will be to remove his right eye as well. He has had an artificial eye implanted in the left eye, but it has not been totally successful.

 Candice travels to Cape Town once a month for Blake's treatment. Doctors will be giving the family a prognosis on his condition after their next visit as the tumour in the right eye has been bleeding. The medication he is on causes him to be very hyper-active and on my visit to the family this last weekend little Blake never sat still for one second. Even taking a photograph required super-human skill from Candice to keep him still.

The Huttons have two other beautiful children, Elgin aged 6 and Tamara aged 3. They are living in a very small one-bedroom flat with little space for the children to play. Both Tamara and Elgin have been tested for the retinablastoma gene and they both carry it. Elgin is particularly at risk for contracting this cancer. Candice was employed as a teacher before Blake became ill but has had to give up her job to look after him. Laurence is employed as a Driver and is doing his very best to provide for his family. They applied for a social grant for Blake when he was a few months old but were told they could only apply after he was one year old. Laurence is going to follow that up now, but chances are slim that they will receive anything. Wings and Wishes have been generously providing air tickets for Candice and Blake to get to Cape Town. Blake gets extremely car-sick and is vomiting after just the short trip from the airport to the hospital so travelling by car to Cape Town is out of the question.

 The Huttons have done everything possible to provide for themselves and have sold their car and stove as well as other precious family items to cover the costs they are faced with.

 This family are in dire need of financial assistance as Blakes medical costs can be quite expensive on a monthly. They have attempted to do fund-raising on their own but the community they live in is also struggling to make ends meet and bingo drives arranged by Candice were not very profitable. She also has her hands completely full taking care of 3 small children. They do not have a large extended family to provide emotional support or to help with the care of the kiddies.

 Mally, a supporter of All Hands On Dec Friends, and I were so touched by their situation and awed by their determination not to give up. I remembered every second spent with Declan in such similar circumstances and how blessed we were with the support of so many many thousands of people, and my heart aches for this family battling alone.

 A starter at a restaurant costs about R30 and the memory of it lasts just a few short minutes. The blessing this amount will bring to this family will last a very long time and so I am appealing to All Hands On Dec Friends supporters to donate just a few rand and lets lift them out of the huge hole they are in.

If you live in Port Elizabeth and would like to donate a food hamper or make a cash donation, I can be contacted on email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text82291 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it