A ten-year-old Star Wars superfan has been given a special Storm Trooper radiotherapy mask – so the force can help him beat a brain tumour.
Reece Holt passed out and was rushed to hospital with a bleed on the brain due to an undiagnosed brain tumour – and medics had to cut him out of his Star Wars T-shirt.
The schoolboy had surgery to remove the tumour but still faced radiotherapy – so medics designed a special Storm Trooper mask.
The sci-fi themed mask helps him stay still as possible during the treatment.
Brave Reece, of Morecambe, Lancs., said: “I was upset when I first found out about my tumour – but I find my treatment really interesting.
“It is like a fascinating science lesson and the Storm Trooper mask is really cool – I can’t wait to wear it out for Halloween this year.”
Reece’s mum Rachel O’Neil, 39, who is engaged to Reece’s step-dad Lewis Macfarlane and also has son Callum, nine, says Reece’s diagnosis was a real shock for the whole family.
This included Reece and Callum’s dad Chris Holt – as Reece had not displayed any symptoms and it all happened so quickly.
Speaking about the horrific ordeal, Rachel said: “Reece had his tonsils removed two weeks before it all happened and he was off school recovering in May.
“Reece’s recovery was going well and he seemed absolutely fine on the morning of May 5.
Reece had been prescribed some antibiotics as a precaution and Rachel put these sweats down to the meds after he started sweating buckets and being violently sick.
Rachel said: “I took Reece’s temperature and it was 34.3 – so I knew something wasn’t right.
“I took Reece to the surgery and in the back of the car his eyes started rolling in the back of his head so I was shouting and talking to him to try and keep him conscious.
“When the doctor was examining Reece the left hand side of Reece’s face suddenly dropped like he had had a stroke – it was very frightening and I knew then we were dealing with something serious.”
Reece’s GP initially feared Reece might have septicaemia from the tonsil surgery and was blue-lighted to Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
Within 20 minutes of Reece arriving at the hospital, his favourite Star Wars T-shirt had to be cut off him to intubate him because he couldn’t breathe on his own.
After a CT scan revealed a bleed on the brain, Reece was transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, Merseyside, where neurosurgeons worked on him.
Consultant neurosurgeon Conor Mallucci told the family that they could not remove all of the brain tumour because of so much swelling.
Reece recovered slowly was told he would have to return for surgery to remove the rest of the tumour and went back home a week later.
But two days later he began to relapsed with complications from the initial operation and was flown to Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Air Ambulance.
This was causing Reece to have constant fits and had successful surgery to remove the rest of the tumour.
Tests revealed the tumour was cancerous and was a rare malignant ‘Grade 3’ brain tumour called anaplastic astrocytoma.
Speaking about her son’s tumour, Rachel said: “It is a tumour in the tissue that surrounds the brain and it is usually seen in adults, not children – they only get about 10 cases a year.
“There is not research to understand why it has happened. It may have been a benign brain tumour which Reece had from birth which suddenly turned malignant.
Adding: “Or it could just have developed in the last couple of months – they just don’t know.”
Rachel says her son’s fascination and interest in all things science related made him curious about knowing everything about his treatment.
She said: “Reece asked his surgeon to go through the whole procedure with him.
“Reece also has copies of all his CT and MRI scans and asked the doctors to explain them in technical detail.
“He even asked if they had filmed the brain surgery as he wanted to watch it!
“They hadn’t filmed it but they showed Reece filming of a similar procedure. They have even done drawings and diagrams to explain things to Reece.
“All the staff at both Alder Hey and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre have been amazing with Reece. They have now almost become like a second family.
“Whenever any of the staff are discussing Reece’s treatment, they speak to him directly rather than through us and he much prefers that – I think that’s fantastic.”
Reece was also asked if he wanted to donate the brain tumour to Newcastle Cancer Research Centre along with his bloods and DNA – and of course he agreed.
When Reece’s favourite T-shirt had to be cut off him, his mum tried to find him another one – which was eventually tracked down on eBay.
Rachel said: “Reece has always loved science and is fascinated by anything to do with space.
“We watched the original Star Wars films a couple of years ago and then booked tickets for the latest one for the first day it came out and Reece and his brother Callum have been hooked ever since.
“Reece’s radiotherapy nurse told us that they put sunglasses or eyelashes on radiotherapy masks for children and said how great it would be if they could make Reece a Storm Trooper one.
“We couldn’t believe it when they made him one – and Reece is over the moon with it.”
Sarah Stead, paediatric specialist radiotherapist at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said: “When we found out Reece was such a big Star Wars fan I joked with the team who mould the masks about making him a Storm Trooper mask.
“The team have done a great job with Reece’s mask and helped me build a relationship with Reece from his first day of treatment – the smallest of things make a big difference.”
Reece is currently half way through his radiotherapy treatment and is also having daily chemotherapy.
He will undergo an MRI scan in August to find out if the treatment is working and then faces six weeks of intense chemotherapy followed by 12 months of a low dose.
Rachel said: “This whole experience has been very difficult but we can’t fall apart – we have to keep going.
“Reece has amazed us with his strength and resilience and ‘Let’s just get on with it’ attitude.”
Speaking about his devoted carers at the centre, Reece said: “All the staff at Clatterbridge and Alder Hey are brilliant – especially the surgeons and consultants for explaining in detail what’s happened.
“However Sarah [Stead] is my favourite member of staff because she’s cool and answers all my science questions about radiotherapy and radiation and told me all about the radiotherapy spiders that live near the machines and are see-through.”
Reece’s friends and family have already made £2,500 in fundraising for Clatterbridge and Alder Hey after the youngster decided to devote time to giving something back.
Reece and his brother Callum are set to undertake sponsored head shave together.
If you would like to donate to Clatterbridge for the pair’s headshave visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Teamreece.
