Upon discovering a lump on little Charlie’s head, parents Rachel and Ashley Round headed to the hospital only to be sent home with the assurance that their son had probably bumped his head.
After a week passed with no change, Rachel took him to her GP where she was again informed the two-year-old was well.
Noticing a change in size, the 28-year-old took her boy to hospital one more where she was told Charlie’s bump was “insignificant”. She demanded an ultrasound.
A grapefruit-sized tumour was found in the boy’s stomach and a second 7cm by 3cm malignant growth could be seen on the right side of his head. An MRI confirmed every parent’s worst nightmare: that Charlie had stage-four neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the nerve cells.
Charlie’s doting parents were with him until the very end.
“Our whole world fell apart,” Rachael tells The Sun of her frustration in the delayed diagnosis.
“If they had done a blood test when we first took him in they would have noticed he had an infection in his blood and done further tests.”
“It is crazy that it was misdiagnosed for four weeks. It is an aggressive cancer, it forms really quickly so those weeks are crucial.”
The little fighter celebrated his third birthday in hospital.
Sadly, chemotherapy wasn’t enough to save the bright little boy, and on Friday, March 24, just eight months after his diagnosis, Charlie’s parents revealed their “angel” lost his battle shortly after his third birthday.
“Our superhero Charlie passed away last night in mommy’s arms, no more pain baby boy 💙.
“You have taken a piece of our hearts away with you.”
A GoFundMe page has now been established to help Rachel and Ashley, who are also parents to daughter Olivia, seven, to pay for his funeral.
Our hearts go out to the Round family during this incredibly tough time.
