A MUM who had two young children seriously ill in the same hospital told how the ordeal taught the family true happiness - and she hopes they will stay that way.

Cara Steel, 23, and husband James, 24, had their world turned upside down when their son Jayke, aged five, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in February.

The family had only just adjusted after Cara had given birth to baby Maya, now aged nine months, in December.

The couple suspected Jayke was unwell as he never fully recovered from tonsillitis, but failed to get a diagnosis until in desperation they took him to hospital.

Medics at Forth Valley Hospital suspected he might have blood cancer, but a bone marrow test at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow confirmed that - and Cara stayed there for nine weeks without going home to Falkirk.

But the family’s troubles worsened when little Maya developed a massive lump on her chest, which was diagnosed as a benign tumour.

At one point in June, both children were recovering in the same room at QEUH and facing an uncertain prognosis.

On June 11 Maya was admitted to hospital for day surgery for a tumour biopsy, and Jayke was being given a lumbar puncture with chemotherapy injected into his spine.

The siblings were kept in the same recovery room at QEUH.

Jayke is now in remission but will need chemotherapy for another couple of years, while medics have yet to decide what to do about Maya’s tumour, which is harmless.

But Cara says the heartache has taught them to live a more ‘carefree’ life.

Cara said: “We are much happier people - we don’t worry about bills, or about having money in the bank.

“It doesn’t seriously affect us.

“Jayke has had cancer, he’s going through treatment, and with Maya we don’t know yet.

“We are so much happier, it’s insane.

“It’s difficult to explain to people.

“That’s the only thing that’s important in our lives, there’s nothing else to worry about.

“I really hope that it would continue after treatment, that we wouldn’t forget, that we will still feel this carefree.

“I don’t think there is anything else that would have made me have this realisation, that nothing is really that important that you need to be worried about it and make yourself miserable.

“Every Tuesday we go to hospital for Jayke’s treatment, it’s rubbish but aside from that we don’t have stressful times.

“We are just happy.

“I hope that in ten years, we’re as happy, we are still not worried about bills and things that aren’t that important.”

The young couple, who married in July 2018, try to make every day special, and take the children on outings to country parks.

Their parents stepped in to support them, and looked after their cats as well as offering lifts and helping with bills.

James put his chef training on hold to help out with childcare, and learnt to drive in the weeks after they were given the devastating cancer diagnosis.

But Cara told of the horror moment she found a lump on Maya’s chest wall, and the tot was admitted to hospital.

She said: “It looks huge now, on her chest wall. It is on the outside of her ribs.

“It was so overwhelming.

“I just remember saying to my husband ‘we can’t have two children on the same ward’.

“The first time we took Maya to day surgery, the staff all knew us and knew she was Jayke’s sister.

“The staff are just incredible.”

Jayke is now back home and goes to nursery, but will need another two or three years of chemo as a preventative measure.

Cara said: “Maya was only eight weeks old when Jayke was diagnosed, it feels like he’s growing so fast, but life is frozen.

“Everybody else’s life is going on around them, our friends are at uni or going places, but we are all in this little bubble.

“We are not really going anywhere except the end of treatment.”