Rachel O’Dwyer: My son Ted is about to finish three years of leukaemia treatment. What happens now?

On Wednesday I met a child psychologist in Crumlin Children’s Hospital as part of a routine assessment for children with cancer. My eight-year-old, Ted, is due to finish three years of treatment for leukaemia on April 27th.

The end of care can be a difficult time, she said. She ran through a psychosocial assessment with propositions I had to rate from “always” to “never”. Most were self-explanatory: “My child is often tearful”; “My child finds it easy to make and keep friends”, until, towards the end, she paused: “The next statement isn’t scored. You can just agree or disagree. Or you can refuse to answer: ‘All of this happened for a reason’.”

At the entrance to the day ward of St John’s Ward in Crumlin, mounted to the wall, is a small silver bell.

Attached to the tongue of this bell is a knotted piece of rope – just long enough for someone small to reach up and grasp. Nearby is a painted mural of animals on safari, a statement on the oncology unit’s philosophy of care and an infographic on proper hand-washing.