A mum who thought her son had conjunctivitis has been left heartbroken after he was diagnosed with a rare cancer.
Jade Williams said little Rhys had very few symptoms when doctors discovered he was suffering from the devastating disease, Wales Online reports. The youngster is currently undergoing chemotherapy at Birmingham Children's Hospital - but has been told that if treatment isn't successful, his eye will have to be removed.
Mum Jade said she first realised something was wrong when his left eye became 'glazed' and then became red around the pupil. The 29-year-old said: “He kept saying his eye was ‘sunny’. Then I noticed he was getting worse and the pupil was getting more red.”
He had pictures taken of his eye at Specsavers, however when they were sent to an optometrist, she was told to take him to A&E immediately. Medics carried out a number of tests, at which point they gave Jade the shocking news that Rhys had an aggressive type of tumour in his left eye.
The mum-of-four said: “When I put the kids to bed, that’s when I broke down. You cannot prepare yourself, it was a sinking feeling.”
Rhys now has to undergo treatment at the Oncology unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital - one of only two hospitals in the UK to offer it - every four weeks.
Jade added: “There’s nothing worse than seeing him in pain. It’s heartbreaking and I cry at every single appointment.”
Throughout his cancer battle, Rhys has remained incredibly brave and still enjoys help looking after his baby brother, Arthur.
Jade said: “He is amazing with him. He likes to help feed and change him.
“He loves playing football and we were about to start him in a team before all this, which is a shame.
“He knows he has a poorly eye, and while we don’t hide the word ‘cancer’ around him, he just knows he has to go to the doctors because he’s unwell.”
Jade and her partner Chris Friery, as well as Rhys’ dad Kurt, all take turns caring for Rhys and have to work around their hospital visits. This has left them struggling financially, as Jade is also self employed so is not receiving an income while she is on maternity leave.
Jade has put together a fundraiser to raise vital funds to help her family through this - visit the GoFundMe page page here.
She is also donating a portion of the proceeds to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust to raise money for care packages for parents who are in the same position as her own.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
