A two-year-old boy was told he had a number of different infections before being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Freddie Sellick from Crosby first started vomiting and struggling to walk straight around March 14, with his mum, Emma Sellick, taking him to the doctors to see if they could diagnose the little boy. The stay at home mum was told it was gastroenteritis, but with Freddie only vomiting she was dubious.
Her gut instinct proved to be right and after numerous trips to both her local GP and to children's A&E who continued to tell her he was suffering with a number of infections, she refused to give up and contacted the endocrine specialist at Alder Hey when she struggled to get a straight answer from doctors. By the time Freddie was put in the hands of the specialist, he had been vomiting, struggling to stand up, his eyes would often roll backwards and had blood in his urine.
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Despite the alarming signs and sense that something wasn't right, Emma struggled to get a certain diagnosis for Freddie until it was almost too late. After getting in touch with the specialist at Alder Hey, Freddie was quickly brought in and sent for an MRI that revealed he had a brain tumour.
Along with Freddie's frightening diagnosis, he was also diagnosed with Pseudohypoparathyroidism last year. The rare condition is a genetic mutation that affects his growth. As a result, he is the first child to be treated for cancer while having this condition, making his treatment even more complex.
Mum, Emma, told the ECHO about how Freddie is doing now after having two surgeries, and two more on the horizon ahead of nine months of chemotherapy. She said: "He's actually doing really well after surgery interaction-wise.
"He still can't walk and still has to hold onto us because his legs are really, really weak so they just flop to the floor because they have no strength. He's still really, really happy. He's just a really happy boy, nothing seems to faze him.
"It honestly amazes me and that's one reason why I knew he was unwell because honest to god he is the happiest boy ever and bounces off every wall. He just couldn't do that and he still can't do that.
"He's trying to run before he can even walk again but he can't do it. He goes to physiotherapy at Alder Hey and we're also getting more support from Sefton carers which is based in Crosby. He is going good but he had to have emergency surgery a couple of days ago because his head started to leak again so I had to take him back in again."
Emma, along with her boyfriend, and Freddie's dad Jack, 28, are now raising money to go towards equipment and transport for Freddie, as well as money to go towards research into Pseudohypoparathyroidism. The GoFundMe has reached an outstanding £10,000 already but more money is needed to help with Freddie and the research that goes into the rare genetic condition.
Freddie now has a lowered immune system due to the treatment he is receiving which means he and his parents can't get public transport to Alder Hey in case he picks up a virus or bug in the process. The money will go towards a number of costs that the future treatment will incur.
The 25-year-old said: "He does need extra help at home with equipment. I'd like to be able to get him a chair and a table that he's been using at hospital that I could get for home. We obviously can't use public transport while he is receiving treatment and I also need to transport for when Freddie is feeling a bit better so we can go out and do things.
"We can't do public transport. Then there's also the Ronald McDonald House that Jack and I stayed in when we were there with Freddie and they were amazing. They're all volunteers as well, they don't get paid.
"I feel like more needs to go to them to be used on whatever they need to use it on. Things like supplies, equipment, anything, I feel like we need to give something to them. Other families are going to be going through similar to what we are.
"Freddie's professor needs money as well to go towards research into Freddie's condition which he had never come across before. It makes Freddie's treatment more difficult as well because they don't know what they are working with. We've got more tests to do and we obviously want to give more money to research in case something like this happens in the future again. There's a lot of things we'd like to give money towards."
To read more about Freddie and donate, click here.
