A North Belfast woman has opened up on the moment she learned her son's health was in jeopardy.
Cain Matthews celebrated his 18th birthday on November 12 last year, the next day, he was in hospital where he became an inpatient in the critical care ward. The young man, from Ballysillan, had complained of feeling unwell - doctors then discovered a cyst the size of a football on his spleen.
To the family's horror, it has been discovered Cain picked up a rare parasite, which attached itself to his spleen, making him incredibly ill.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, Cain's mum Nicola says the parasite is currently compressing his vital organs.
"He just woke up the day after his birthday and said he didn't feel well and that he could feel a lump in his stomach," Nicola said.
"I looked at it and thought, 'In the name of good Lord, what is that?' His whole upper left abdominal area was totally descended. We took him straight to A&E. They just couldn't figure out what was wrong at first.
"Initially, they thought he had Mono, which is common in young adult. When they done an ultrasound, they found a mass. It was that big, they couldn't read the size of it. At that point, we thought we were looking at a diagnosis of Leukaemia.
"He went to critical care then, and for the whole month of November, my shop shutter went down and I slept on the floor of the hospital beside my son. The team at the hospital had never seen anything like it before and retired surgeons were coming in to look at it.
"They were trying everything to find out what was wrong. It was compressing all of his organs and he couldn't breathe, so they said they needed to drain it. If it had of ruptured, he would have died.
"He went to surgery to get it drained, and in the first 48 hours, the fluid coming out of that child was so much. It was desperate. Cain got really sick and took an infection, and they had to clamp the drain because his body went into shock."
When Cain was stabilised, he was moved from critical care into a surgery ward. When he was at home, he was still draining two litres of fluid each week.
Nicola says she knew something more was wrong with her son. But she and her husband Gary didn't expect to receive the news that their son had a parasite in his body.
"During his surgery, what they wanted to do was to preserve his spleen, because of his age," she added.
"It went ahead and myself and Gary went to the Lisburn Road to grab a coffee and when we were there they called us to say that he is still in surgery but they were going to have to withdraw because it wasn't what they originally thought it was.
"They checked his pathology of the fluid that was drained. The mass was the size of a football and had lots of little lumps and bumps over it. It cane back that Cain has Hydatid Disease which is a parasite.
"He is now waiting on an urgent MRI and his consultant in Belfast is liaising with the Royal London where he will go for life-saving surgery. He will be in hospital for up to eight weeks post-operation to recover.
"As a family, we would like to travel and be with Cain in London at this awful time. He is still our baby, and he is handling it so much better than me and his daddy. But now, the chemotherapy is making him feel not great and it's mentally challenging. He has good days and bad days.
"He has had to put his life on hold. It's really awful and we are still very much in shock."
Cain's family set up a Go Fund Me page to help with costs while in London for Nicola and Gary. Nicola, who owns her own business on the Cavehill Road, says they will try to co-manage the business.
"Because he is classed as an adult and he will be in an infectious disease zone, we don't think we will be able to stay," Nicola said.
"We'll be getting flights back and forth and accommodation too. We just don't know what to expect, but we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far. We are forever grateful to our family and friends, and to the community in the Cavehill area."
Please follow this link to donate to the family's fundraiser.
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