A young boy was rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke on the school playground minutes before his mum arrived.
Kaiden Turner, eight, initially fell down and hurt his leg on Friday afternoon at the Deighton Primary School in Tredegar, South East Wales.
When mum Yvonne Williams arrived to collect him, a teacher said they weren't able to speak to him.
As she approached Kaiden, he started to violently throw up and went unconscious.
The "tough little boy" was rushed to Noah's Ark hospital in Cardiff by air ambulance where he had a scan that found an arteriovenous malformation (AVM).
It was found a blood vessel burst causing a massive bleed on Kaiden's brain.
Kaiden, one of nine children, has been sedated and has since been transferred to a hospital in Bristol where he is due to have surgery today.
Yvonne told Wales Online how a stroke is "very rare in children".
Kaiden now needs a procedure where doctors will look at all his vessels and decide what treatment he will have going forward.
He has a blood clot deep in his brain that needs to be treated to prevent any further bleeds, she explained.
She added: "I’m feeling very up and down, devastated and heartbroken like my whole world has been turned upside down."
Kaiden's dad, Huw Turner, has similar feelings she said. "Peoples' support has been amazing," she continued.
She said: "To know so many people are thinking of him and praying for him is overwhelming and because of their kind generosity we are able to spend every minute with our beautiful boy."
A GoFundMe has been set up for Kaiden and his family to help Yvonne and Huw stay at his bedside.
They said: "We would like to put our pride aside for the sake of Kaiden’s parents to ask for some donations toward our goal.
"He is very special to each and every one of us and has done nothing but fight in his journey back to health, however, the costs of staying in Cardiff as a family who lives in a small town is very expensive and this was very unexpected."
The family said the monies raised were "to keep Kaiden's parents and youngest sister fed and comfortable and stable with essentials only".
An update on the fundraising page said Kaiden had improved since being admitted to the hospital and had begun to lift his leg and arm.
Yvonne added that she was "dreading" the operation on Wednesday and was looking forward to focussing on her "little soldier's" recovery afterwards.
