THE parents of a seven-year-old boy have been told he has a five per cent chance of survival after he complained of stomach aches.
Tyler Lynch was five when he began experiencing pain, in May 2020, and his life hasn’t been the same since.
Months later, when he woke with a limp and a sore leg, parents Daniel and Maria decided to take him to Manchester Children’s Hospital.
The couple, from Sale, claim the doctors said he just had an irritable hip, which was normal for kids his age.
But when Tyler woke up with a swollen eye the next day, his parents had a gut feeling there was something wrong.
Daniel, 34, a dad-of-three, told the Manchester Evening News: “Doctors looked at him again and got him to walk. They asked how long he had been walking like that.”
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Tyler was sent for blood tests and an MRI scan, which discovered the “heartbreaking” truth.
“We were told he had a tumour in his stomach and that it was cancer – it only got worse from there,” Daniel said.
Tyler was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a cancer that is almost always found in children.
It develops in early nerve cells left behind from development in the womb, and usually starts in the tummy.
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The symptoms include a lump in the tummy, causing pain or swelling, and constipation.
If it has spread around the body it may cause weakness and loss of movement in the lower body.
Neuroblastoma affects around 100 children each year in the UK, making up around six per cent of the total number of childhood cancer diagnoses.
Tyler was placed on an intensive chemotherapy plan for 12 weeks before having a stem cell harvest and two tumours and five lymph nodes removed.
He recovered quickly before having another round of aggressive chemotherapy.
But, because it wiped his immune system, he had to stay in an isolated room for six weeks to avoid catching any bugs.
The chemo gave Tyler painful sores in the mouth, leaving him unable to swallow and significant weight loss.
Daniel said: “You saw the physical changes; he lost his hair and lots of weight because of how sick he was.
“Chemo changes your taste buds and he wasn’t eating anything, it was really difficult.”
The stem cells that were harvested before chemo were returned to Tyler’s body once the cancer was destroyed.
But six months later, Tyler began to feel pain in his knee.
“They did an ultrasound and they thought there was something in his stomach but that it was scarring from surgery,” Daniel said.
“They didn’t investigate it any further from that point even though he was showing symptoms of a potential relapse.
“With the chemotherapy he had, it can cause bone pain realistically, but three months down the line he was still having pains.”
Tragically, an MRI scan showed Tyler’s tumour had returned.
Doctors are unable to surgically remove the tumour because it sits on a main blood vessel, making it too dangerous to operate.
It means that sadly the youngster’s chances of survival are very low.
“He has a five per cent chance of survival,” Daniel said.
“They had to get five per cent from somewhere. So why can’t he be part of the five per cent?
“I’m not sure what was harder – hearing the relapse or the first diagnosis. The first time round it was just heartbreaking to hear to be honest.
“He is the happiest kid; he’s always smiling despite everything that’s going on.
"He used to try and play on the ward; he was out in the corridor riding up and down on electric cars. Most children tend to stay in bed.
“We don’t know which way it’s going to go. You have these days where things are quiet and you break down, but we don’t do that in front of him.”
His family are now desperately looking for more treatment but haven’t had any luck.
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Daniel said: “Not enough research is going into children’s cancer."
A fundraiser has been set up to help the family create memories. To donate, follow the link by clicking here.
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