Howard's accomplishments during his first three years in Washington occurred under a gathering cloud of personal crisis. In the summer of 1924, his eldest son, Esme, travelled to the United States after completing his term at Oxford. He had been ill for some time and, in Washington, the shattering discovery was made that he had leukaemia. Howard and his wife then began desperate efforts to seek a treatment for the disease in the hope of finding a cure, taking him first to London in the autumn of 1924 to consult specialists. Although the universal opinion of prominent doctors in Britain, the United States, and the continent held the condition to be incurable, the parents continued searching for a miracle. Because Howard had to return to the United States before the end of the year – the presidential-congressional elections and the advent of a new administration necessitated his presence at the Embassy – Isa remained with her son in Britain and, later, Switzerland.