Riley's story

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“Our little boy was 3 and a half when he became unwell and suffered constipation for over 6 weeks. It was only when he pretty much had organ failure that I was taken seriously at the hospital. He was diagnosed with a Rhabdoid Tumour. They couldn’t tell where it was coming from as they had found fluid on his right lung and a complete collapse of his left and pneumonia.

He started chemo 9th September 2011, and then in January 2012, he had surgery. They were only able to take out 98% of the tumour. This left some round his aorta and the rest around his spinal column. We all knew the tumour would still grow but hoped radiotherapy would kill off the remaining 2%.

On the 10th February 2012, we were told Riley was terminal. He had 2 weeks of high dose radiotherapy to slow progression.

“This bought us 15 more weeks to enable us to fill it full of magical memories. “ Devastatingly, Riley developed tumour spread throughout his chest, lungs and abdomen. He passed away on 25th May 2012, aged 4 years.

“Riley was such little character who adored Skylanders. He loved and looked up to his sister, Nina. He never once complained or said why me? He just got on with it and is an inspiration to all his family and friends."

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Angela Van Zyl, Riley’s mum.