Parents took son to doctor with a cough but it turned…

Parents took son to doctor with a cough but it turned out to be a 'grapefruit-sized' tumour

The dad of a child who had a 'grapefruit' sized tumour will run in a Nottingham event to raise money for the healthcare workers who saved his son. Ashley and Charlene Swift, of Bestwood, were devastated when their five-month old son Oliver was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2018 and was given a 2 per cent chance of survival.

Following this diagnosis he underwent years of intense medical procedures, which finally ended last year when he rung the special bell at Nottingham Children's Hospital, marking the end of his treatment. As part of a series of fundraising efforts to thank QMC staff for the now five-year-old Oliver's care, his dad Ashley will soon be running the Robin Hood Half Marathon.

Mr Swift, 33, recalled how he and his wife had learnt of their son's diagnosis. "He was diagnosed in January 2018 with a brain tumour when he was five months old. We didn't know what it was originally, we took him to the doctors for a cough - we were first time parents so we didn't really know what was normal and what was not.

"When we got there they noted a little lump on his head, and they said they wanted to check it out further. When we got to QMC they did a brain scan and what they thought was a skull fracture came back as a brain tumour.

"It was the size of a grapefruit, which is huge at five months old. It took over the whole left-hand side of his skull and pushed his brain to the right."

Oliver's parents previously backed plans to introduce a new children's MRI machine to the Queen's Medical Centre. Mr Swift praised the NHS staff who had saved his child, highlighting it as the reason for his fundraising efforts.

"It's a way to say thank you, because what can you say to the people that have saved your child's life? Because he was so young, children at that age are like plastic, so he's fantastic now and he's just had his fifth birthday," Mr Swift added.

"We've done quite a few events, but I'm running for the NHS this time - imagine what we would have to do without them. He needed two and a half years of treatment, god knows what that could have cost us and how much debt we would be in.

"This is probably about my fifth or sixth Robin Hood marathon, but I don't really run outside of the marathons. We've done charity football matches and skydives to get money for the NHS before."

Charlene Swift, 33, who will be cheering her husband along the 13.1 mile route, said: "When Oliver was diagnosed our world shattered around us! The support we got from everybody at QMC was incredible. The treatment and care that Oliver received was out of this world and we will forever be grateful to everyone who contributed to saving our son's life, even though he only had a 2 percent chance of survival.

"Raising money is our way of saying thank you, it seems like a drop in the ocean because how do you thank people for saving your child’s life? Because of these professionals Oliver is still stable, has just celebrated his fifth birthday and is progressing every day."

You can contribute to fundraising here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ashley-swift-run