A schoolboy whose nausea was put down to returning to classrooms after the first lockdown was shocked when he was diagnosed with a deadly brain tumour.
Tom first complained of feeling ill in September 2020 and a month later was taken to the doctors when he started having double vision.
He was deemed physically OK but the next month suffered a migraine so visited an optician who found swelling behind his eye.
The then 13-year-old was sent to hospital where an MRI confirmed he had an aggressive brain tumour, the Liverpool Echo reported.
Mum Karen, 47, said: “Tom was physically shocked, I was in pieces.
"He was given steroids and sent in an ambulance with flashing lights over to Alder Hey.
"By this time we had pulled ourselves together and Tom said he’s going to be ok.
“We were told he would need an operation in a few days."
Tom underwent further eye tests and scans at Alder Hey Children's Hospital before his operation - at which point Karen was told the surgeon wouldn't be able to remove all of the tumour.
A week after Tom's operation, the family were told the devastating news he had a cancerous tumour called a grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme.
The 14-year-old started radiotherapy and chemotherapy in December 2020 but due to the pressure on his optic nerve he lost his peripheral eyesight.
After a year of chemotherapy Tom and his family were told the treatment is no longer working and there was nothing more doctors could do for him.
Karen has now set up a GoFundMe page to give Tom the chance of finding a clinical trial in another country
In a message on the fundraising page, Karen said: "Tom has always been a positive person and the way he has handled this devastating news at such a young age is absolutely amazing and he is my hero.
"We are as a family determined to fight this as hard as we can and be in the 2% that survive this horrible aggressive cancer.
"I have drastically changed his diet, started him exercising more, have him alkaline and I’m giving him every supplement and vitamin to boost his immune system.
"Unfortunately we are racing against time to find help and there are no trials on the NHS in the UK and we are looking abroad in America and Germany which are not cheap.
"I would like your help in raising some money to give him the best fighting chance at life."
