Caitlin Molyneux opened up about the emotional rollercoaster of the last four-years of her son’s life
Zaki Gubran with his sister Zahra meeting Lightning McQueen(Image: Joe Howarth )
Zaki Gubran isn’t your average four-year-old. The young Garston lad has been through a lot more than most his age. He spent the first few years of his life in and out of the hospital, because of what initially was believed to be a cough infection.
However, as mum Caitlin Molyneux explained to the ECHO, the real reason was actually much worse. The 26-year-old said: “Zaki was crawling and sitting up and doing everything you expect.
“But then, all of a sudden, he stopped it. He wouldn’t eat, he was just sleeping a lot – all day, every day. At the time, it was Covid-19, so they just thought it was because he had a cough and gave him antibiotics over the phone. They didn’t see him in person, but a week later, he still had the cough. He wasn’t doing anything, he wasn’t his usual self.”
Still concerned, Caitlin rang the doctors again and was advised to go to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. However, when she got there, she was told something similar as previously and sent home with a throat spray for her little boy, who was then 11 months old.
Zaki Gubran meeting some of his favourite heroes(Image: Joe Howarth )
Caitlin, who is also mum to six-year-old Zahra, said: “A week later, again we were still in the same position. So I just started making a little bit of noise and told them I knew it was more. I wasn’t leaving until I got an X-ray.
“At first, we knew there was something on the scan, but we weren’t sure what. But the doctors realised it was a really large mass that covered his entire chest area. He had a collapsed windpipe, two blood clots in the side of his neck, and his whole chest was a tumour.
“I can’t remember much about the time because I was so in denial. You just smile and laugh it off awkwardly. It didn’t hit me until a couple of months later, the severity of it just put me into mum-mode. Whereas before, my mind was just blank. I couldn’t think much about it.”
While receiving treatment for his initial diagnosis, the Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School pupil received a secondary cancer diagnosis. At not even a year old, it was confirmed Zaki had thymoma, making him “the youngest child in the UK ever to have it”, according to Caitlin, and also lymphoma.
Zaki Gubran and his sister Zahra spent time with Cinderella(Image: Joe Howarth )
Caitlin said: “I don’t know how we’ve made it this far. It’s been a long few years, but it comes to an end soon. He rings the bell on June 10. I’m nervous about it with all this adrenaline. We have a big celebration planned for him that weekend.”
Caitlin spoke to ECHO while she, Marvel fan Zaki, and other family members were at Disney’s Make A Wish event. Now in its fifth year, the three-day experience brings the happiness, joy and the magic of Disney to children living with critical illness in the UK.
This May, over 200 families will be welcomed to Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire for a magical immersive trip. The venue will be transformed into an enchanted manor, where wishes will be granted to hundreds of children, including Zaki, living with critical illnesses, over the course of 12 days.
Zaki’s aunt, Courtney, 27, said: “The trip has been so good for him and all the other kids. They are so overwhelmed because there is so much to do. He’s met all the princesses, Stitch, Buzz, Woody, Winnie the Pooh – nearly all of them. He was absolutely made up.
“To see him now, for us to get this far, is incredible. At the start, it was just meetings after meetings about his care, and it was bad news after bad news, it’s been a journey. When he rings that bell I will be crying my heart out.”