Family Life

Miracle two-year-old dying of cancer wakes up as life support machine switched off

Dylan Askin, from Derby, England, is a miracle boy. 

At just two-years-old, he was diagnosed with a one-in-ten-million rare cancer pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (PLCH).

Dylan was extremely weak and not expected to survive, so on Good Friday two years ago, his parents made the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support machine. 

But the strong boy started stirring, gradually woke up and started regaining strength. 

Two years on Dylan has beaten the illness. Kerry Askin, Dylan's Mum, told The Daily Mail that Dylan's recovery was miraculous.

"I was strong in the belief that Dylan was our Easter miracle. I am not massively religious, but I did think it was a miracle.

"When we told our eldest son, he said 'he's like Jesus' – because he had been learning about it in school." 

Initially, Dylan had been taken care of in Intensive Care but a dose of bacterial pneumonia left his lungs barely functioning. Doctors had very little hope for Dylan's recovery. 

"On Good Friday they told us things were looking bleak and that we weren't going to get him back," Kerry recalled. 

"All the settings on all the machines were at their highest and he was still struggling. We had him christened, all his family came from all over to say goodbye, including his big brother."

But as the medical team began to withdraw the life support, the boy's heart rate dropped to normal levels. Seeing that Dylan wasn't ready to give up, his parents stayed by his side. 

"We just said stop, there is still fight in him." 

Dylan's oxygen levels steadily improved and by Easter Sunday he had stabilised. He was sent home in May and finished cancer treatment in July. 

To his family, he'll always their Easter miracle. 

The family now campaign for a local children's cancer charity
 

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