Twelve years on, friendships forged on a children’s cancer ward remain unbreakable
They were three years old when they met.
Olly Johnson from Abram and Josh Cubbin were both being treated for cancer on the same ward at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Too young to understand the scale of what was happening, they still grew up side by side through hospital stays, chemotherapy and long stretches away from normal life.
And while the boys formed their own friendship, so did their families.
“It’s amazing the bonds you make when you share a bay together for months,” said Josh’s mum, Jane. “Holding sick bowls for each other’s kids and being there through the darkest times, but also the happy times. Who knew you could say that about a children’s cancer ward?”
She added: “We loved a game of blood results Top Trumps at the weekend.”
It’s a line that captures a world most people will never see, where blood results aren’t just medical updates, but something families compare, read, worry over, and sometimes even joke about just to get through the day.
Donna and Phil, Olly’s parents, became part of the same close circle of families, people who weren’t just going through treatment at the same time, but going through it together.
What started in hospital corridors and shared bays turned into something that has lasted more than 12 years.
The boys’ friendship didn’t end when treatment did.
Neither did the parents. More than a decade on, those friendships are still very much alive.
Olly is now doing well and was discharged from the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital in 2023. Josh is also doing brilliantly. Another former ward friend, Charlotte Jennings, who also spent time on the same ward during her treatment, is now working as a nurse at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
What stands out most for the families is not just how far everyone has come, but how it all began, with two little boys forming a friendship on a hospital ward that never really ended.
That bond is still what brings them together today.
That bond is still at the heart of Olly’s Army, the group of family and friends who take part each year in a fundraising bike ride from Southport to Abram along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
The latest ride took place on June 13th, marking the ninth annual event. This year’s effort raised £2,829, taking the overall total to more than £25,000 for Kidscan Children’s Cancer Research, a charity funding and developing more targeted treatments for children with cancer.
Olly now proudly serves as a Kidscan patient ambassador, alongside Josh and Charlotte, continuing to represent the community that first came together during their treatment years ago.
For those involved, the ride is not just about fundraising. It is an annual return to the people who were there at the beginning, when life was measured in hospital corridors, test results and long days on a children’s ward.
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