A four-year-old English boy was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer on Christmas Day after complaining of severe neck pain.
Jackson Garvey, who lives in Manchester, UK, was hospitalized on December 23 last year and was diagnosed with several brain tumors two days later.
This was reported in the local newspaper by the boy’s parents. Manchester Evening News that Jackson had complained of pain in his neck for three weeks and that they decided to take him to the hospital as a precaution when the pain got worse.
The child’s blood tests showed no abnormalities, but a few hours later, Jackson lost the ability to walk normally and underwent an MRI. The results of the tests became known on December 25, and the doctors quickly sent the boy for chemotherapy.
The medical team was unable to identify the type of cancer that caused the tumors in the boy’s brain, but they believe it is a rare and aggressive cancer.
“Doctors took a biopsy and tried to remove everything they could,” Jackson’s mother told the newspaper. “The first operation lasted over 11 hours and was able to remove 95% of three of the four tumors.”
“All they can tell us at the moment is that this is a very rare and aggressive type of cancer, but they can’t tell us exactly what type of cancer it is. However, the doctors don’t want to wait any longer for the results, and we start chemotherapy immediately.”
Since Christmas and until now, the boy has been in the hospital and is undergoing treatment.