We are raising money for our beautiful 3 year old son Flynn, who has cancer.

Flynn’s Story

Flynn is a happy, energetic and intelligent little boy who loves his sister Casey, playing in the park and learning about dinosaurs.

In December, staff at Flynn’s nursery noticed that he had a slightly drooping eyelid. On closer inspection, there was a mass growing from under his eyelid at an alarming rate. After 3 inconclusive visits to the GP, we were referred to the local hospital, where he underwent a biopsy 2 days after Christmas. The following day, we received a devastating phone call informing us that it was a malignant cancer.

Subsequent tests revealed it was an aggressive type of cancer called a Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) in his right orbit. RMS is a rare condition that affects soft tissue such as muscle, affecting fewer than 60 children in the UK each year.

Treatment

Flynn has just completed an initial 7 weeks of chemotherapy at Nottingham Children’s Hospital until March, some of which is intensive and involves hospital stays. Though he has taken it in his stride and is trying to carry on in his usual energetic way, it is exhausting for him and makes him feel very ill. He has already endured sickness, hair loss, and hospital stays for blood transfusions and neutropenia.

A large portion of the tumour was removed as part of his initial biopsy. However, due to the location of the tumour, surgery cannot be used to remove it completely.

This means that he will continue to receive further rounds of chemotherapy. We have also been told by consultants that he requires Proton Beam Therapy, a type of radiotherapy that specifically targets the cancer but causes less damage to the surrounding tissue. It is particularly valuable for children, reducing the risk of serious permanent side effects from conventional radiotherapy.

Raising Money

We have been told by doctors that we need to travel to Florida in less than a month’s time and stay for up to two months while Flynn receives Proton Beam Therapy. The Proton Beam Therapy service is a nationally commissioned service funded by the NHS in England. Therefore, the NHS will fund treatment and all travel costs including flights and accommodation for Flynn and the two of us, for which we are incredibly grateful. However, all other costs will need to be paid by ourselves.

We will need to find money to cover expenses to take Flynn’s one year old sister Casey with us - we need to keep our family together to look after each other. We also need to cover lost income and pay for living expenses while we are there and bills at home.

Thank You

Thank you for reading Flynn’s story and to everyone who has already sent kind messages and words of support. He is very special to many people and is dealing with everything so incredibly well. It’s a long road ahead but we are staying positive and giving Flynn all the love and support we can. Any help at all would be hugely appreciated and will reduce the stress we are already having to face on a daily basis.

Any money raised that is not used will be donated to children’s cancer charities.

Thanks in advance for your kindness, together we can give Flynn his future.