ALWAYS BY HIS SIDE

Susana Casanova, 50, from Kew, London, was devastated when her son was diagnosed with cancer. But his twin brother kept him fighting.

- HANNAH CROCKER

Watching my four-year-old twins, Afonso and Gabriel, zooming around on their bikes, I smiled.

‘Catch me if you can,’ Gabriel shouted out.

But as I looked over at Afonso, he looked worn out.

It wasn’t like him.

He was usually so full of beans, and had no trouble keeping up with his brother.

But recently I’d noticed when they had races or played football and tennis, Afonso was lagging behind.

He was sleeping more and more, too, but despite that he had dark circles beneath his eyes.

Sending a picture of the boys to my dad, Joaquim, my phone pinged.

Is Afonso feeling OK? He doesn’t look well.

Looking again at the photo, I could see what he meant. He looked pale and weary.

By May 2020 I knew something wasn’t right, so I called 111 and they referred me to a GP.

As we made our way there, Afonso could barely walk.

‘It’s probably nothing,’ the doctor said. ‘But we’ll send you to the hospital, as a precaution.’

Bundling the twins in the car, my husband Paulo, 45, and I drove to Kingston Hospital.

Because of Covid, Paulo waited in the car with Gabriel.

Afonso was taken for blood tests, and we waited two hours for the results.

After a while I saw three official-looking people enter the waiting room,

and head straight towards me. My stomach dropped. This is bad, I thought. As they approached me, I stood up, while Afonso played on the floor beside me.

‘Is this serious?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ one of the doctors said. ‘My husband is in the car outside,’ I said. ‘Give me a minute, I need to get him.’