A terminally-ill schoolboy needs £100,000 for a life-prolonging treatment in the United States – because the NHS can do no more for him.
Morgan Hayes, a massive Manchester United fan, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer known as stage four neuroblastoma two and a half years ago.
Despite taking part in a clinical trial in Bristol and being given the all-clear, the cancer came back in force and has now spread to his spinal cord.
Doctors said because the cancer is in his central nervous system they can only stabilise the schoolboy’s condition and cannot treat it.
Now his parents Ben Hayes and Sophie Russell have launched an ambitious fundraising mission in the hope they will raise £100,000 to send Morgan to New York for a pioneering new antibody treatment.
“Right now we are not that confident of reaching our total,” said doting dad Ben.
“The £100,000 will probably be just the minimum amount required.
“But Morgan just gets on with it. He’s our little fighter.”
Morgan, a pupil at Ysgol Llys Hywel in Whitland, Carmarthenshire, first started feeling sick and losing his appetite in February 2015.
“He then started struggling to walk and his legs became very weak,” Ben added.
“Initially we thought it could have been children’s arthritis or side-effects from having his appendix out.
“But it got to the point where he couldn’t walk at all.”
The six-year-old was admitted to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen and was initially treated for a chest infection, his dad said.
But following a CT scan two “masses” were spotted on Morgan’s chest.
“A barrage of doctors called us into a room. They started drawing outlines of his body and then drew something on the chest area.
“As soon as they said a ‘mass’ we knew it was cancer.
“We then spent the next 12 hours trying to take it in. I regret crying in front of Morgan but he knew it was extremely serious.”
Within 24 hours Morgan was transferred by ambulance to the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff where a biopsy was carried out.
Following many weeks of chemotherapy an operation was carried out which removed 100% of the tumour.
He was then taken to the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children where he was given immunotherapy treatment in a bid to train his body to fight the disease.
“At the end of February he finished that and was given the all-clear,” Ben added.
“But he started getting pains again and in June he was diagnosed with the same condition.”
Caroline Thomas, a teacher at Ysgol Llys Hywel, said the school greatly misses Morgan’s presence.
“We are desperate to do as much as we can for him to prolong his little life,” she said.
“We miss him dreadfully in school and would love to see him walking in through our door once again.
“We have a sponsored walk arranged and we are selling T-shirts, wristbands, key rings and purple/yellow bows (neuroblastoma) that tie at the front of a vehicle.”
If the parents manage to reach their £100,000 target Morgan would be flown to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre for a new antibody treatment.
“It would involve taking cells from someone else’s body, who has already beaten the cancer, and teaching Morgan’s immune system to fight it,” added Ben.
Their GoFundMe page has so far raised almost £4,500 in a fortnight.
To donate go to www.gofundme.com/3ywagnc
