Mother documents her three-year-old son's heartbreaking decline after 19 rounds of chemo for liver cancer leave him so weak he can't walk, talk or even bear any attention
- Amber Schofield, 22, is documenting Charlie's journey on Facebook
- Toddler's legs are so frail she can fit her fingers around them
- Mother fears her son will not survive without specialist treatment in the US
A mother has shared a heartbreaking photo diary, showing the devastating decline of her three-year-old son after months of gruelling chemotherapy.
Charlie Proctor has gone from a bouncing toddler to being so frail that his mother Amber Schofield, 22, from Accrington, Lancashire, can fit her fingers around his legs.
The youngster has lost all his hair after 18 rounds of chemo and is currently so weak that he can't walk or talk and even finds attention from Amber and her partner Ben Procter, 27
'For the past week he's had so little energy, he won't even let you look at him,' she said. 'He's lost so much weight that you can see so many of his tiny bones.'
Charlie Proctor, three, from Lancashire has been left so weak after 19 round of chemo that he's currently unable to walk or talk
Two-year-old Charlie in December 2015, just before he was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer
Charlie before his hair fell out, at a charity parachute jump to raise money for cancer research, in May 2016
Amber has been documenting Charlie's cancer battle on Facebook to raise awareness of the reality of the disease.
'I realise he's not a funny meme or a joke about getting drunk,' she said. 'But he is my boy and it is real. I want people to share that.'
Charlie was diagnosed with with a rare form of liver cancer in January 2016, after suffering a bug over Christmas.
But still, his smile – although sometimes weak – remains constant.
Doting mother Amber is keeping a photo diary of Charlie's progress to show other parents the reality of childhood cancer
Good natured Charlie's smile – although sometimes weak – remains constant. Charlie, pictured in September 2016, has lost all his hair after chemo
Having a nap in hospital with his dad, Ben. Charlie is pictured here having lost weight, with no energy and a high temperature, in November 2016
Shocking photos show him lying still in bed, clutching sadly at a teddy bear. His current state is a far cry from the Charlie of autumn 2015, before he suddenly became seriously ill.
But Amber said it was important people realised that children suffered from cancer – and the treatments used to beat it.
She hopes other mothers - especially young mums, as she was just 18 when she fell pregnant with Charlie - find support in her posts.
The doting big brother with his younger sister Jessica in September 2016
Charlie and his mum Amber take a nap together in the midst of his gruelling treatment in June 2016
In one rcent post, she talked of her excitement, after realising her boy's low energy was a sign he needed a blood transfusion, not a sign the cancer had worsened.
'I wondered if all of this was because his disease was rapidly worsening. But I couldn't have been more wrong,' she explained.
'Yesterday he went to Manchester with his grandma for his bloods to be taken. When the results came back, they showed he needed some platelets and a blood transfusion. A blood transfusion? This could be why he's so weak? Correct!'
Charlie snuggled up with a cuddly toy, in November 2016
The toddler in hospital, before his hair fell out, in March 2016. He's undergone 19 rounds of chemotherapy
But there is sad news on the site too. His alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, indicators of the cancer in his liver and lungs, remain high.
Now Amber fears that unless he gets specialist treatment in the USA, he will not live for much longer.
Doctors, who initially believed he had up to a 90 per cent chance of survival, have admitted chemotherapy is not working as well as they had hoped.
Amber - who was five months pregnant with his sister Jessica, now nine months when he was diagnosed – said doctors now fear it could be as low at just 20 per cent.
Amber fears that unless he gets specialist treatment in the USA, he will not live for much longer
A delighted Charlie enjoying a break from the hospital, in October 2016
And while she is not critical of the treatment he has received at Manchester Children's Hospital, she is desperate for him to visit America clinical trials and chemotherapy drugs that aren't available in the UK.
At Cincinnati Children's Hospitat she hopes he will undergo further treatment, which will cost at least £25,000.
'I believe that if he does not go to America he will die from this cancer,' she bravely said. 'I am fundraising for treatment. I don't want to beg, but he is my son and I have no choice.'
Amber revealed how Charlie's stomach hardened and his veins became visible beneath his skin, prompting her to take him to Blackburn Royal Hospital where, on February 1, 2016, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Charlie, described as fun and cheeky, has so far undergone 19 lots of six-day rounds, which is stabilising but not curing him, according to Amber.
'When he was first diagnosed his AFP levels were around 700,000,' she explained. 'After chemo they drop to around 400, but then they go straight to 1,000.
The youngster being treated in hospital, in September 2016
Charlie with his dad, Ben, August 2016. Currently he's unable to walk or talk because he is so weak and in need of a blood transfusion
'Children's AFP levels should be around nought to five. So it is working, but not to the scale we'd hoped.
'Chemo is incredibly tough. He goes through stages of being incredibly thin and weak.'
Charlie's family are raising via GoFundMe.
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