Seven-year-old Danny King was diagnosed with a brain tumour in April 2011. His parents have set up an appeal for funds to help them go to America, where their son can get the treatment he needs.
Danny suffered for weeks before he was diagnosed, at the age of six. « He had sickness and diarrhoea one night », his mom Mandy says. For at least eight hours he had excruciating pain. I took him to the doctor but at the time there was a sickness bug going around so they put it down to that and it carried on for another nine weeks, one night a week. »
« I knew it must be more than a bug. Then one evening when he was watching TV, he was holding his eye shut and I asked him ‘why are you holding your eye like that?’ and he said, ‘cause that one sees two. I took him to the opticians and he said straight away to go down to the hospital. »
A scan found the tumor and fluid on his brain. Even so he went through surgery to remove the fluid, the tumor continued to affect his memory and movement, pushing on his nerves. In November 2012, a scan revealed the tumor was cancerous and growing.
It was decided that the best therapy was proton therapy, not yet available in the UK. Danny’s parents are now taking him to Florida for a three month course of daily treatment. The NHS is paying for the flights, accommodation and treatment but Mandy and Gary need to raise around £10,000 for day-to-day expenses and they need to leave money with their 14-year-old son, Billy, who will stay with his adult brother.
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