A nine-year-old schoolboy has survived one of the rarest forms of cancer in the world, after undergoing a complex procedure in which surgeons temporarily removed and then reinserted his liver.
Per The Daily Mail, back in April of 2019, Saul Hayden complained to his mom Vicki Kay-Spruce about having a sore stomach. She examined him and found a lump on his tummy.
Take a look at this video all about Saul's ordeal:Concerned, she arranged for him to see a doctor and have a scan. It was then that doctors delivered the worst possible news: Saul was diagnosed with stage four malignant rhabdoid tumor of the liver.
This just so happens to be one of the rarest forms of cancer, and only 53 other people are recorded to have been diagnosed with it. Of these 53 people, only five survived.
Doctors placed Saul on 13 intense rounds of chemotherapy to reduce his cancer before they could operate safely, which was extremely debilitating for him. After 80 days of treatment, a scan in August revealed that his cancer had shrunk enough for surgeons to go ahead.
On September 18 medics at Birmingham Children's Hospital in England isolated the blood flow to Saul's liver, and then removed the whole organ and cut off the cancerous growth. They also removed a cancerous artery connecting it to his heart, and inserted a new one constructed out of tissue provided by organ donors.
After another few months of chemo, to ensure that no cancerous cells remained in the brave young boy's body, a scan in January gave Saul the all-clear at long last. Vicki said: "I don't know how but he has found the strength from somewhere to keep smiling through everything.
Saul is due to return to school before the end of the year, and doctors are going to monitor his recovery and scan him every six weeks to ensure his continued health. If you'd like to help Saul go on a dream vacation to the states, why not visit his JustGiving page and make a donation?
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