A boy who always has a smile on his face and "never complains" was diagnosed with an aggressive tumour after his mum noticed his "lopsided smile".
It is now a "waiting game" for seven-year-old Aaron Wharton who has spent the past few years battling a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. Mum Nicola was told there wasn't anything else doctors could do, but said Aaron has remained brave and strong throughout.
At the age of four, Aaron was diagnosed with Anaplastic Ependymoma during the 2020 lockdown and he has spent a lot of time in and out of Alder Hey Children's Hospital and the Wrexham Maelor hospital. Despite rounds of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and surgical procedures, the tumours on Aaron's head kept growing back to a "significant size".
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A scan in January showed the tumour had grown and spread, meaning the young boy is now on palliative care. Nicola said: "Due to the location of the tumours he has a high risk of seizures and headaches. There's no cure and we have very limited time with him now.
"At the minute he's not showing any symptoms but he is getting tired quicker than normal and can't keep up with children his age, he needs more rest days but he never complains. He accepts he's not very well but if he can do something he will, he always has a smile on his face he's incredible."
Back in April 2020, Aaron's smile was lopsided and he was randomly being sick. Given a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, Nicola pushed for further treatment when a large tumour was found. Aaron was rushed for emergency surgery at Alder Hey, where he spent 12 weeks due to different infections such as meningitis, and he lost the ability to speak and swallow.
Learning to speak again, Aaron then underwent a gruelling six weeks of radiotherapy at the Christie in Manchester before he was able to go back to "normal life"., even starting school, with the exception of regular MRI scans. But in June 2021, a scan showed the tumour had returned and was a "significant" size, so the young boy underwent an 11 hour operation.
He then had to have another operation before further radiotherapy treatment at the Clatterbridge and then 12-weeks of chemotherapy from December to April 2022. Nicola, from Flintshire in North Wales, said: "We found out the tumour has a mutation chromosome meaning it mutates incredibly quickly."
But soon Aaron was back to having regular MRI scans until September 2022 when results showed the tumour had returned and had spread. Nicola added: "There was no longer a cure they could offer him and time was very limited. They started palliative chemotherapy but he had another scan in October which showed the tumour had doubled in size.
"It was agreed they would operate on the top of his head and he had surgery in November, but in January this year the tumour had grown again and they had all expanded significantly."
As March is brain tumour awareness month, Nicola is doing all she can to help raise vital awareness of the "forgotten" disease. She urges other parents to know the signs and to "push" when they know something is wrong with their children.
The mum told the ECHO: "Push for answers. When the hospital told us it was cerebral palsy, the doctors told us his walking wasn't bad but we had videos, we pushed them to investigate. With covid it took a lot for us to be seen but push as much as you can, if you think there is something underlying, you know your child.
"If we'd have left it, it may have been a completely different story and we may not have had these extra three years with him. With brain tumours I get the impression people think they are rare and they aren't. It should be tested for straight away.
"With it being brain tumour awareness month we need to get the awareness out there. It kills more children and adults under the age of 40 than any cancer but just 1% of funds are allocated to research. We can't progress unless we get more investment so March is the time to bring this disease to the forefront of people's minds."
A fundraiser has been launched to help the family make lasting memories together as the young "superhero" continues his fight. Anyone wishing to donate can do so here. Aaron's journey can be found here.
Nicola added: "We are treating it as life as normal for him, we haven't told him how poorly he is, we don't want him to be scared but whatever he wants to do, we will do it. For us to watch it's incredibly hard. You never want your child to suffer but he's been so brave.
"He has a resilience about himself which makes you want to be strong because he's strong. He's inspirational to anyone who meets him."
Throughout March, Brain Tumour Research hold events to increase awareness and fundraising, one of which is Wear a Hat Day on March 31. This has been going for over 10 years now, more information can be found here.
According to Brain Tumour Research, common symptoms include severe and persistent headaches, worsening vision, loss of balance, nausea, unexplained twitches, seizures, confusion, changes in behaviour and changes in senses.
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