The family of a brave little boy fighting cancer are asking for support to help them make memories together.
Doctors told Amber Schofield and Ben Procter that their three-year-old son Charlie Procter had stage four Hepatoblastoma after he was diagnosed with a tumour on his liver.
Amber and Ben, who both gave up work after Charlie was diagnosed in February, have set up a Go Fund Me page to allow them to make memories as a family.
Amber, 22, said they could be facing a terrible, heart wrenching decision in the near future.
She said: “We’re looking at whether to keep him on treatment which will prolong his life but will keep him in hospital, or stop all treatment and let the cancer take over.
“I had to ask the doctor how does cancer kill someone - it was horrible.”
Charlie has now undergone ten rounds of chemotherapy since his diagnosis, but treatments have so far failed to work.
Amber, of Lion Street in Church, said: “The chemotherapy treatment he has had is the strongest his body can take. When Charlie was diagnosed we were told it was rare but curable. But Charlie’s doctor said she’s never seen a child not clear after this treatment. He’s starting another type of chemotherapy but it isn’t as strong.
“She said because the first treatment hasn’t worked, the survival rate drops below 25 per cent.”
Hepatoblastoma is a rare tumour that usually occurs in children under five and only about eight children are diagnosed in the UK each year.
Amber said she was six months pregnant with their daughter Jessica when Charlie’s diagnosis knocked them for six.
She added: “When they told us Charlie had a tumour, my world fell apart. We were a little family, we had our son and we were having our baby girl Jessica.
“He had been poorly over Christmas and he was getting worse, saying his tummy was sore, he had gone off his food and had become very quiet.
“I had taken him to the GP but something still wasn’t right so I took him to A&E. The consultants came and did their ward rounds, and they came to us last, they closed the curtain and told us it was a tumour. We never expected cancer – I was so sure they had got it wrong.”
Donations have so far reached £1,970. Visit www.gofundme.com/mkwze3tg.
