An "amazing" schoolboy has died after a long battle with an illness with his devastated family paying tribute.
Edward Hunstone was just three when he was diagnosed with grade two pilomyxoid astrocytoma - a type of brain tumour.
The 12-year-old was diagnosed after he started being "randomly sick", his nan Tracy said doctors initially put this down to an intolerance to certain foods and told the family "to keep a diary".
However, Edward's sickness continued and after tests it was found he had a mass on his brain, Liverpool Echo reports.
The brave youngster endured eight years of chemotherapy, which he "took all in his stride", his family said.
The chemotherapy went on until January 2021 and Edward also lost his vision in his right eye and in 2020 needed a shunt due to fluid on his brain, this also needed to be fixed four times.
While on a break at Center Parcs in January this year, the family got a call from doctors to say Edward needed to have a bone marrow biopsy.
Edward had the procedure on January 18 and a day later the family were told Edward had acute myeloid leukaemia.
Tracy said: "They did another [bone marrow biopsy] in January, I can’t remember the exact date but it was a Wednesday, and by the Thursday he was in hospital and never left.”
Edward's family, from Moreton in Merseyside, said this treatment caused him to be "very, very poorly" and tragically the schoolboy lost his fight on February 22.
Paying tribute to her son mum Sam Hunstone, 40, described him as "amazing" and said she was so proud of him.
She said: “Edward was a little nutter, he really was, but he was so sweet as well. Say if he had pocket money, the others would just spend theirs, but he would sit and think.
“Say there were two things he wanted, he would take about an hour to decide which one he wanted. He wouldn’t just go ‘mum get me the other one’.
“He was also the first person to offer you money if you needed it. He would say ‘oh I have my pocket money if you need it’. He was so sweet. We are all so proud of him.”
His nan Tracy also said: “Edward had no filter, he would say it exactly how it was. He was amazing. He loved arts, he loved crafts, he loved going out for night drives. Especially through covid because he couldn’t mix with other people."
She added: “He was a right little character and said exactly what he thought. He was amazing. He had such a fight.”
The family now want to give Edward "the best send off he deserves" and have set up a GoFundMe page to help with fundraising.
Writing on the page, Tracy said: We are absolutely devastated Edward lost his fight on February 22 at 9am, our hearts are broken, and we want to give Edward the send off he absolutely deserves. He was 12-years-old and absolutely touched so many hearts.
"He was one of a kind and never, ever should this have happened to him. He was amazing fighter and fought right to the end, everybody loved him who met him. Please if you can help Edward get the send off he deserves."
To donate to the GoFundMe, please click here.
