Oliver's Story

Oliver was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in early April 2025.

In the days leading up to Mother’s Day, he became unwell, sleeping for up to 22 hours a day and showing no interest in eating or drinking. After seeing the GP and completing three days of antibiotics, he was still not himself.

We took him to A&E, where doctors believed his tiredness was caused by low blood sugar. By late afternoon, his blood sugar had returned to normal and we were preparing to go home. Then a doctor we had never seen before carried out one final examination and noticed that one of Oliver’s pupils wasn't reacting properly.

We now know that eye is blind. The frightening part is that sometimes the pupil reacts normally and sometimes it doesn't, meaning the problem could easily have been missed.

Everything changed very quickly after that. Oliver was rushed for a CT scan and, at around 11:30pm, three doctors came into the room, sat me down and said the words I'll never forget: "Oliver has a brain tumour."

I called my wife, Helen, and asked her to come to the hospital. Two days later, we were transferred to the neuro ward at Leeds General Infirmary, where a biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Oliver spent more than 150 nights in hospital, much of that time in isolation because of the many infections he developed during treatment. He was bed-bound for most of his stay and needed help with every aspect of daily life.

He was admitted to intensive care four separate times. During one admission, he spent 28 days on a ventilator with pneumonia. Oliver sadly missed his fourth birthday, but he recovered enough to celebrate Christmas with the people we had come to love on the oncology ward.

We were finally discharged from hospital on 31 December, just in time to begin 2026 at home. Oliver is now partially sighted and continues to regain his strength, mobility and independence as he gets back to being a happy four-year-old boy.

We are so thankful to Bens foundation and cant wait to get away