A teenager with just months to live has donated his life savings to a six-year-old boy he’s never met.
Rhys Langford, 19, from Ebbw Vale in Wales was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a cancer that starts in the bones, in October 2020.
After 16 months of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, physiotherapy and surgery as well as infections, two blood clots, internal bleeding, blood and platelet transfusions, he was declared cancer free.
But in November last year, he started to get sick again.
“I ended up with sepsis and a massive blood clot in the femoral vein, again spent almost five weeks in hospital, had further tests, MRIs, CT scans, to to be notified on January 4 of this year that my cancer has returned,” he wrote.
“Now there is nothing left for me to do,” he said.
“I die.”
While Rhys accepted that his journey would end soon, he was devastated to learn that Jacob’s had just begun.
Jacob, 6, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma just before Christmas 2017. His family managed to raise thousands of pounds for experimental treatments, and after months of chemotherapy and surgeries he too was declared cancer free in 2019 .
In January, a new lesion was discovered on his liver, and although he is awaiting a biopsy, his family fear his cancer may return.
After hearing the news, Rhys decided to donate £1,000 ($A1,900) of his savings to fund Jacob’s treatment and created a GoFundMe which raised more than £46,000 ($A88,000). AT).
“I know nothing can be done for me right now, but as one of my last wishes I would like to help Jacob and help him fight this horrible disease,” Rhys said, “I know what treatments and the horrible drugs do to your body. It’s hell.
“Jacob is now six years old and has fought this disease most of his life. It shouldn’t be like this.
Jacob’s family said their “thoughts and love are with this young man”, thanking him on behalf of Jacob and his “fight team”.
“We got a fantastic £1,000 donation from a wonderful person called Rhys…he was reading about Jacob’s relapse and got really upset and wanted to do something to help him,” they said.
“His words were, ‘If they can’t save me, I’d like to help save this little boy Jacob’.”
To donate to Rhys’ fundraiser for Jacob, visit the GoFundMe page.
