A SCHOOL community is celebrating after two pupils successfully completely their treatment for leukaemia.

Ethan Rackham was diagnosed in November 2016, while Emily Dickson’s family was given the devastating news in December a year later.

Since then both have undergone gruelling chemotherapy, taken steroids and had lumbar puncture procedures to treat the illness.

But the youngsters have still managed to get to classes at Consett Junior School where they have been supported by friends and teachers.

They have both now been given the all clear.

Ethan, eight, who has an older sister, lives with his mum Jayne Rackham, 46, who is a psychiatric nurse, in Consett.

She said: “He was feeling tired all of the time. When we were going to soft play, he would have to sit down. Just before diagnosis he was sleeping all of the time and was wiped out completely. We went to A&E and they were pushing us through quickly so I knew. I knew what it was. We pushed for a blood test and that is what came up. It was horrendous.

“But the consultant said 'if my child was to have cancer I would want him to have this form of cancer because there is a 96 per cent cure'. You see families with other diagnosis and you think ‘thank God’ I was blessed with this diagnosis.”

Ethan’s dad Steven Rackham, 46, who works in traffic management, said he is planning to take the children on holiday to Ibiza in May.

He said: “It has been a hard three years but he has been amazing. He has been as strong as an ox. He just goes along with it.

“There have been some low times when we have been hospital, seeing him lose all of his weight. I shaved my head when he lost his hair to support him but he just took it on the chin.

“The school has been amazing and the support has been there. Everyone has been part of the journey.

“I am taking him away in May after the SATs so it will be the first we have been abroad in a while.

“The treatment plan meant we could not get away so we have got a nice family hotel in Ibiza.”

Emily Dickinson, nine, is one of five sisters.

Her mum, Vickie Kirchner, 39, said: “It has been heart-breaking, but Emily has been really brave. She has been amazing really. It has not phased her at all.

“She has had good days and bad says but has continued coming into school. She is a good role model for others.”

The school is holding a special assembly with a visit from Jogada Campbell-Howson, a nurse specialist from the children’s ward at the RVI in Newcastle.

She will be talking to the children before Ethan and Emily ‘ring the bell’ to mark the end of their treatment.

Headteacher Paul Dixon said: “For the school community it has enabled the children to understand what it means to be poorly in a significant way but also to recognise the achievement of these two kiddies.

“They have been through an awful process where they have lost their hair and have been visibly poorly.

“They have been through far more than many of us as adults have been through. It shows their strength, their resilience and their positive outlook on life.

“They still come in with big smiles of their faces everyday and it puts things into perspective for the rest of us.”