Liam is almost four. He likes cars and football, but most of all he loves the ocean and is already on the way to becoming a budding surfer.

But Liam is in a battle for his life. He has high-risk neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer.

Liam is currently receiving immunotherapy treatment - hopefully the last stage of frontline treatment in the UK. His family hope he will show no evidence of disease at that point.

But neuroblastoma has a high relapse rate and if Liams cancer did return, his chances of long-term survival would drop to less than one in ten.

His family are appealing for your help to raise £232,000 by August 2020, so Liam can receive a clinical trial in New York that aims to stop his neuroblastoma from coming back.

Liams Story told by mum Claire

I was nine months pregnant and Liam was just starting a new pre-school. He loved it so much. It was long hours and I thought perhaps his sleeping in the afternoon was due to a new busier day.

He also started having night terrors, which then I thought explained the tiredness during the day. But when he developed mouth ulcers I went straight to the doctor and was told that it was a virus which could take about three weeks to work out of his system.

I only managed to wait a few days as he got more tired, irritable and didnt want to eat much. It was then he went for blood tests and we were referred to a Pediatric Consultant. They felt a lump and werent sure if it was perhaps something minor or the absolute worst a tumour

It all happened so quickly. I was told to call my husband immediately and after an ultrasound, a CT scan and various blood tests we were told it was cancer, and we needed to act fast.

We were obviously devastated, in total shock and we didnt know how to comprehend what we had just been told. We had no words and only tears and questions.

Liams dad, Mike, immediately stopped working and focused on what I can only describe as the worst time of our lives. We spent the next two to three weeks in two different hospitals sleeping next to Liam and we were all utterly exhausted emotionally and physically.

Liam went under general anaesthetic for a biopsy of the tumour and a Hickman Line was inserted (this goes into the main artery in the heart). He also had a Bone Aspirate to check whether the cancer had spread to his bone marrow.

Giving birth at the hardest time

In the late afternoon on the 3rd of July, we went home from St Georges hospital and on the morning of the 4th July, I gave birth to Kylie, our daughter. I remember just before she was born, I was in tears I broke down thinking of Liam and all that he was going through and all that he needed to go through.

The hospital didnt want to release me as I had stress-related high blood pressure and of course, it was too early to go home after giving birth. But I insisted I had to attend one of the most important meetings of my life. The day after giving birth to Kylie, I left the hospital in the morning to attend a meeting at the Royal Marsden hospital. This meeting was to go through the diagnosis for Liam and the treatment going forward.

Liam was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma which is a particularly aggressive and complicated cancer to treat. He had to start chemotherapy that afternoon. We were shocked, overwhelmed and had so many questions to ask. This was our little boy who we would give anything and everything to make better.

Treatment

Liam has since fought through two and half months of intense chemotherapy which involved constant weekly blood and platelet transfusions due to its intensity. During this treatment, he suffered numerous infections from the chemotherapy making him continuously neutropenic. These infections kept him in hospital for most of this part of his treatment.

A six-hour plus surgery followed to remove the tumour and then this was followed by high dose chemotherapy, which kept him in hospital for almost two months to recover due to the severity of this treatment. Radiotherapy treatment followed and he is now undergoing Immunotherapy.

Liam's fundraising campaign

The funds raised from this campaign are to fund the Bivalent Vaccine clinical trial for Liam in New York after immunotherapy is completed. The vaccine is to reduce the risk of this cancer ever returning. If the cancer does return there is a very poor chance of survival. This cancer carries a high risk of returning therefore we want to get Liam to the United States for this treatment as soon as we can.

Liam, you are our little warrior! You have taught us so much and more. You have gone through tremendous pain and suffering from one of the most intense cancer treatments in the world, fighting constantly through these treatments extreme side effects. You have been the bravest little angel a Mummy and Daddy could ever hope for. You are truly, without a doubt, the most incredible, affectionate, playful and positive little man we could have wished for who inspires us daily. You are our little Hero - Warrior - beautiful inside and out. We love you with all of our hearts.

How you can help

There are many ways you can help Liam: by making a personal donation; holding a fundraising event; getting sponsored to take on a challenge.

To donate by text, send LIAM followed by any whole amount up to £20 to 70085. This will cost your donation plus your standard network charge. It wont matter if you leave a space before the number, if you include a £ sign or whether you use upper or lower case.

If youd like help supporting Liams campaign, please get in touch with the fundraising team on 0207 284 0800 and fundraising@solvingkidscancer.org.uk