Meet The Virdees
The Virdee Family: Kulwant, Reuben, Hari and Jess
“I always struggled to watch adverts on TV about families being told their loved ones had cancer. Never really knowing how it must feel to hear those words; but now I don’t have to imagine, because it’s our reality… We became one of those families.”
Just shy of Reuben’s third birthday, his family’s world was turned upside down when he was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma. Parents, Kulwant and Jess, were devastated and Reuben’s younger brother—affectionately known as “Hurricane Hari”—was only eight weeks old.
The family spent nearly two years apart, living between hospitals and home. Reuben underwent a barrage of scans, biopsies, transfusions and chemotherapy before finally being declared cancer-free earlier this year. “You look back on it and you don’t really know how you did it,” remarked Jess.
Concerned about the potential for relapse and the prognosis should that happen, the Virdees made the decision to bring Reuben to the US for a clinical trial that would hopefully prevent his cancer from coming back. Getting to NYC was another battle as several administrative hiccups left their final preparations down to the wire; however, once the family arrived, St. George’s Society was there.
“Without the support of St George’s Society, traveling thousands of miles for Reuben’s medical treatment would have felt so daunting. Luckily, they have been on hand during every trip to sort out everything from taxi journeys to hospital liaison. To top it off, they are brilliant fun to spend time with!”
