The family of a “strong little soldier” who was diagnosed with cancer on his FOURTH BIRTHDAY has been left devastated after being told his chemotherapy has not worked.
Brave Toby Nye is suffering from stage four neuroblastoma and his heartbroken mother has told how her youngest son has begged her to “please make me better”.
Four-year-old Toby believes his mum, Stacey Worsley, a nurse at St James’ Hospital, Leeds, West Yorks., can make him better because of her job – leaving the 30-year-old mum-of-three devastated she can do no more.
Stacey said: “I do a lot for him and he thinks that because I’m a nurse that’s what I do.
“If you ask him what my job is he says ‘you make everyone better’.
“He loves helping me putting his wires in and helping with injections.
“When he was in A&E he said ‘please make me better mummy’ which was absolutely devastating.”
The family has now been told Toby’s treatment has come to the end of the line and are hoping to raise £200,000 to fund further treatment for the youngster and to try to have “fun times” during his neuroblastoma journey.
Toby was given the devastating cancer diagnosis on January 6 this year after Stacey took him to both her GP and the hospital – before being dismissed on both occasions.
Stacey said: “Toby was fine on Christmas Day but on Boxing Day he started to become poorly.
“At the start he would just complain about his foot hurting but his symptoms became worse and I decided to take him to the doctors to find out what was wrong.
“When they said he just had a virus, I took him to the hospital because I knew something wasn’t right – but they then sent us home saying the same thing.
“Eventually, six hours after we had left the hospital, I received a call asking us to come back in.
“The next day – on his fourth birthday – we got the cancer diagnosis.”
Stacey and her partner of 15 years, Simon Nye, 30, Toby’s father, were told that he would need intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as an operation to remove a main tumour on his kidney.
Neuroblastoma is a rare type of cancer that mostly affects young children and babies.
It develops from specialised cells that are left behind after a babies development in the womb and most commonly occurs in the glands around the kidneys or nerve tissue around the spinal cord.
It only affects around 100 children in the UK each year but is most common in children under the age of five.
Despite the diagnosis, Stacey said that Toby is a fighter and takes everything in his stride.
Stacey said: “There are days where you would see him just as any other boy. He loves bouncing on the trampoline with his brother and tells us when he gets tired.
“He gets tired if he has had a very busy day but in general he is an energetic child.
“This is our life now and I’m so proud of him.”
Toby is a middle child, with older brother Ollie, 6, supporting him every step of the way.
Stacey, who is on maternity leave after the birth of Toby’s sister Sienna, 9 months, said: “I haven’t really told Ollie the full extent of Toby’s illness but he knows that his brother is poorly.
“He tells his friends ‘be careful around him’ and he is so supportive of his little brother.
“He calls the wires that Toby has in him ‘wigglies’ and tells his friends to be careful because Toby has his ‘wigglies’ in.
“He is so helpful with him.”
Toby was on a trial where he would receive antibodies on the NHS but as chemotherapy hasn’t progressed as expected and he requires extra treatment, the family have been given the gut-wrenching news that he can no longer continue on the trial and they will need to fund further treatment.
Toby’s grandfather Tim Nye, 54, said: “To look at Toby his a proper little strong soldier.
“He has his days where he is tired but he is a fighter.”
The family have raised £2k so far towards their £200k target.
To donate, go to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sheriden-worsley?utm_term=BdYBNda8B
