Riley's Story

Riley was first diagnosed with cancer, Wilms Tumour age 3 in March 2010.
He had a 12x10 tumour removed, and his left kidney was removed. He had 12 weeks of chemotherapy.

Sadly, Rileys cancer returned in October 2011 to a lymph node in the area he'd had his last tumour removed.
Riley endured major surgery to remove the tumour and underwent 12 months of intense chemotherapy and 3 weeks of radiotherapy.
Riley got all clear scans on the 12/12/12.

Riley became a happy, healthy boy. Doing well in school, lots of friends, gaining a huge passion for football, and Liverpool FC was his team.

Shockingly, after 7 years in remission and cancer free. Riley's cancer returned again age 12 in September 2019 during his pree tene growth spurt. He was extremely poorly this time.
The tumour was growing from his diaphragm and taking up his whole chest, measuring 26x26x19cm.
The tumour had collapsed his left lung and pushed his heart over the wrong side.
By the time we got to QMC Nottingham Hospital, Riley was put straight on oxygen and high pain relief. 24 hours later, he had emergency surgery to de bulk some of the tumour to help his breathing and also emergency chemotherapy and a hickman line inserted. He spent a week in ICU.
It was confirmed it was Wilms tumour for a 3rd time, and chemotherapy began for 12 months, plus 2 weeks radiotherapy, stem cell harvest and high dose chemotherapy in Sheffield.
During this relapse, Riley underwent 4 major surgeries, one being In Leicester.
During his treatment for this, another tumour was also found in his remaining kidney, which turned out to be Adult Renel Cell Carcioma. Riley did infact have two cancers at the same time.
By some miracle, Riley beat it for the 3rd time and got all clear scans.

Unfortunately, the Wilms tumour sadly returned for a 4th time, just 10 months later, in June 2021.
This time, it returned very aggressively, in both lungs, in his liver, in his rib, a tumour near the last surgery site, and another tumour near his diaphragm.
The spread, the amount of cancer, and the fact it was the same cancer a 4th time now meant that Riley's chemotherapy was purely palliative and not a cure.
Riley had IV palliative chemotherapy every 3 weeks from June 2021 to June 2022.
unfortunately, the cancer grew again during this time. So Riley was switched to oral palliative chemotherapy every day at home.

Heartbreakingly on May 1st 2023 Riley started having seizures, an ambulance was called and Riley spent 3 days on Rainforest Childrens Ward at Lincoln Hospital where scans revealed Rileys cancer had grew, progressed aggressively and sadly spread the the brain.
We were sent home Wednesday the 3rd May given 24-48 hours.
Riley, as always, proved everyone wrong, and we got a lovely cherished extra 24 days with him.
Riley went to ay football in the sky on the 27th May 2023 at 11.38am.
Riley was a well loved and inspirational lad with an unforgettable smile and is extremely missed, we are really grateful to Bens foundation for this opportunity to get away ⚽️💕