Brother tickles sister and spots her cancer

The hero brother has now gave his sister a chance at life

11 year old Aaron and 7 year old Amy were playing ‘tickle monsters’ when Aaron tickled Amy and he looked down her throat as she laughed. He noticed something wasn’t right inside her mouth and informed his Mam Carly straight away.

Carly said: “Amy and Aaron were just playing tickle monsters in the other room when Aaron has looked down Amy’s throat while she was laughing and seen the growth and thought ‘that’s not right’. My first thought when Aaron showed me Amy’s throat was that it was a tumour. My uncle passed away recently from cancer and my dad has also been treated so it has been at the forefront of my mind anyway. So, as a mother, I was taking no chances and was straight to A&E. In my view, waiting until Monday morning was not an option and I had a knot in my stomach when I was going to the hospital but had to keep it together and stay strong for the kids. I could just feel that something was wrong straightaway.”

A biopsy was taken in hospital and tests showed the cells in the tumour were cancerous and Amy was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma — a rare cancer affecting just 60 children in the UK a year.

Carly continued: “I’m absolutely so proud of Aaron and at the moment, we are trying to make him aware of what an amazing thing he has done because he thinks it is his fault. Because he found it, he thinks that he has done something wrong when in fact he has saved his little sister’s life because he was savvy enough to see that something was wrong and to tell me. I really cannot thank him enough for what he has done, I am so proud.”

Aaron said: “I was really guilty at first because I didn’t understand much of what I found but now I feel pretty proud that I have found it. I didn’t know what to do at first but then I realised that I needed to let a responsible adult know so I ran to mummy and I’m happy I did. It was pretty scary for me and Amy.”

Amy added: “I feel happy that my brother found it and he is my hero now.”

The family have now launched a fundraising bid so Amy can head to the US for proton beam therapy to beat the disease. You can donate to the fund here…