Family open up about their shock at ‘healthy young lad’ being diagnosed with brain tumour
Callum Stone, 15, whose family are from Limavady is receiving cancer treatment
Teenager Callum Stone (15) was sent home from school in January with a headache.
After being picked up by his stepdad, things quickly took a turn for the worst.
ABOVE: Callum and his family on holidays on the River Roe
“Callum had been doing great. He was a very fit and active young lad. He was at the gym, eating healthy, and playing sports. He had a headache that came on all of a sudden in school. They called and I went and picked him up. He wasn’t quite getting his words out right and I thought this looks like more than a headache. So I thought that’s it, I'm taking him to A&E. On the way he had a sudden seizure in the car with me. So I rushed him straight to A&E, which wasn’t that far. When we got to hospital he had several more seizures. He ended up being in hospital for a week, they did an MRI, lumbar puncture and a lot of different tests. Initially they thought it was just inflammation. That is what it looked like because this is quite a rare case and something doctors don’t see very often.
ABOVE: Callum while in hospital
Mark said the family were stunned at the news of Callum’s illness and how this has impacted the young man's everyday life.
“It was a massive shock because Callum was such a healthy lad and something we didn’t see coming. We take him for eye tests every year, his eye test in December had no issues. He literally had no symptoms leading up to the seizure. About a week beforehand he said he had a little bit of a headache after PE but he was fine when he got home, it went away and didn’t come back. Looking back that probably was a sign but it wasn’t a migraine or anything it was just he had a bit of a headache.
“This has turned everything upside down for Callum. He’s in his GCSE year. He is a studious boy, enjoying school and looking forward to doing his GCSEs. All plans were put on hold for him for a while. Callum has dealt with it all amazingly despite the setbacks. He had six weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy which ended at the start of April. Of course the treatment made him tired but apart from that he had minimal side effects. After week three he was back in the gym and out walking the dog.
“He eventually went back to school. After being off for a few months he realised that he was behind the others. Being back at school he has noticed his vision has been affected especially when reading large parts of text. He struggles to focus on the text. So understandably he was quite down the first while back at school because he thought that he was that behind he didn’t know how he was going to catch up. Recently he did have some nausea and vomiting so we had to take him back into hospital which meant more time off school but today he has been able to get back to the gym and wants to get back to school so he will be going in for a half day.”
Speaking on future plans for treatment and recovery for his son, Mark said: “He is so amazing! You wouldn’t know he’s a boy going through what he’s going through. Chemotherapy is still continuing. He does one week every four weeks now. We are looking for other treatments that aren’t available in the UK. We have some appointments in Germany booked for the end of May to speak to a doctor over there. We are exploring our options because it is such a rare childhood cancer there isn’t much research. We are now raising funds to give Callum the best chance with this alternative treatment. We believe there is hope for Callum, and anything you can do to support our family, big or small, is appreciated beyond words, whether by donating or simply sharing this page. The reaction has been overwhelming and incredible with everyone sharing his story, very emotional and uplifting actually. Callum is such a positive lad who wants to get stronger, get back to school and do well in life so hopefully that will come true.”
If you wish to donate to Callum’s fundraiser you can do so here: bit.ly/42EHOCD