Dad wanted to come back and live with us again when I first got sick. But Mum said it was really important for him to keep helping people the way he does. He’s tall and strong, and sometimes when he’s here, he looks at me like he wants to hug all the disease out of me. But he can’t.

I’ve got leukaemia. It’s a type of cancer where you don’t have enough proper blood cells and too many white ones. You bruise easily, and bleed a lot if you get hurt — sometimes inside your body, which can be pretty dangerous. You’re tired a lot, and you catch other sicknesses. You can die from it.

Mine started to show when I was about eight. I had all sorts of aches and pains, and I kept waking up at night, shivering and sweating. I started to get bruises on my legs and front, even though I hadn’t really bumped myself. Our doctor in town sent me for blood tests, and they showed what it was.

So I’ve had lots of treatment. Mostly it’s chemo-therapy. I go to the hospital in town every three months or so, and they drip these chemicals into my arm through a tube. They’re meant to stop the white blood cells from reproducing too much. I usually feel pretty yucky for a week afterwards, but then I can go back to school. I’m lucky: my hair hasn’t fallen out, like some people’s does.

Nobody knows for sure what causes leukaemia. Like I say, some people reckon it was because Mum and Dad took me on those marches, where everyone got worked up, and there were cars driving past with their exhaust fumes. But Dr Koen — he’s the one who looks after me mainly — reckons that’s ignorant nonsense. (He says ‘ignahrent nahnsense’ in his South African accent, which sounds cool.)

I have to be careful not to knock myself, because of the bruising and bleeding. So I can’t play much sport, which is a pain — yeah, a pain to save me from pain. I’d love to play rugby. There’s this brilliant New Zealand women’s team called the Black Ferns. They won the Women’s Rugby World Cup last year, and I wish I could play for them. Maybe I will: most kids who have leukaemia survive, and I’m gonna be one of them!

Being sick has changed my life. But it’s also helped me make up my mind. I’m going to get the very best out of every day. And this might sound weird, but I can do things that other kids can’t.