When Charlie was 3 years old he was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome which is a form of autism.  Now he is 5 years old he has been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma an aggressive rare children's cancer.  I absolutely believe that when Charlie is 10 years old I will be able to say Charlie beat cancer.  For that to happen he desperately needs your kindness and help.  Keep reading.  Charlie is just possibly the most amazing little person you have read about.

He is beautiful, brave and brainy.  My 'little professor' has endured so much already.  Getting to grips with his autism has been tough for him.  He sees things differently to other people.  The world around him is at best chaotic and confusing.  You can see it in his big blue sorrowful eyes.  He suffers from terrible anxiety and most things frighten him.  He has sensory issues which some days make too much noise, touch and motion unbearable for him.  Even with all this he has managed to attend a mainstream nursery and now school, his most valuable lesson being able to navigate a place for himself in mainstream society.  

He is unintentially hilariously funny being a cross between Mr Bean and Black Adder!  He has absolutely no understanding of authority or celebrity and is completely honest.  If you have a crooked nose, he will tell you!  He loves Pink Floyd and classical music, Thomas the Tank Engine and his beloved iPad.  He can read anything you put in front of him and is a born storyteller.  He has mounds of beautiful floppy hair, a posh accent even though nobody knows where it has come from, likes being alone but would love to have a friend who 'gets' him and is fierecly attached to his Inner Circle....the family.  And they to him.  He is adored and loved by us and none of us have ever met anyone like him.  His huge character is cherished by many.  He is simply a one off. 

Charlie had been ill for five months prior to being diagnosed.  I took him 11 times to GPs and specialists at the hospital but sadly due to his austim they waved us away saying that it must be chronic constipation, that lots of children with autism suffered this.  He was never offered an xray or blood tests due to him being so difficult to examine with his autism.  It was not until at A&E I finally told thim I was not moving until they xrayed him that something was finally done.  Had medical staff carried out tests earlier he may very well have been a far more cureable Stage 2 but as it stands they have virtually finished him off and we have the devastating cruel news that he has a Stage 4 Neuroblastoma Tumour which carries with it a 30% survival rate.  You can imagine my rage.  I am tearful as I write this.  So many people have let my boy down.

We have spent a month in hospital now (no mean feat for Charlie) and he has got through lots of invasive scans, chemo, tests and operations and has tubes through his nose and chest and sadly now weighs half of what he used to and has to get around in a wheelchair. He is unrecogniseable really.  Yet his spirit still remains as it always was: strong as an ox, resilient, unbending.  Just about coping with everything.  A half life.  A life on the edge.  No child should have a life like this.

And thats why I'm asking........correction, begging for your help so that I might take him to America for treatment where he stands a better chance of survival.  As soon as he was born I knew he was a special person who would do wonderous things with his life and so many who know him can see the brilliance of him.  That he can look at life from different angle......one wonders what he could achieve. Please help give my kind, loving, wacky boy that chance.  Please help him to stay with his Mummy and Daddy, his Granny and Grandpa and his Auntie and Uncle and cousins who love him so much.  

Please save my soulmate and I will be forever in your debt.

GO TEAM CHARLIE!!!!

Sharon xxx

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