The parents of a three-year-old boy who died following a battle with cancer have paid tribute to their "brave and fearless" son. Harri Stickler from Aberdare was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was six months old.
Born eight weeks premature, he was just six months old when he was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer and given only a 20-30% chance of survival by his doctors. He had previously gone through chemotherapy and r eceived a bone marrow transplant.
Harri's parents had launched a fundraising campaign to raise £1m to send him to Singapore or the USA to try new pioneering treatment, which without it they feared their son would not make it to his next birthday in June. Read more: The heartbreaking reason cars are driving around Wales with purple and orange ribbons on them
But this week his mother Bethan wrote on Facebook that Harri had developed pneumonia before he could get further treatment. He died on Wednesday May 18.
Ina announcing his death and paying tribute to their son, Harri's parents Bethan and Rhys said on Facebook: "With a broken heart, our hero passed away today, he is now pain-free and at peace, he was brave, fearless and faced everything with his beautiful smile, go play with the ra ras, miss you forever our beautiful special boy."
In February 2020, speaking to WalesOnline Bethan Morgan said: "It's been a rough ride for Harri ever since he came into this world,".
Harri Stickler was just six months old when his mum noticed severe redness and swelling in his left eye. A blood test confirmed he had a very low white blood cell count and would need urgent treatment in intensive care. He was later diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer and given only a 20-30% chance of survival by his doctors.
Thousands of comments have been left on the Facebook announcement of Harri's death with people leaving messages of condolences to Bethan and Rhys.
