James' Fibrolamellar journey

Thanks for taking the time to visit this page. I am asking for donations on behalf of my son, James who was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Here is his story: James is 15 and for some time he had a lump on his abdomen. It didn't hurt and there were no other obvious symptoms. We thought it was muscle or a hernia. We took James to his GP and they were not sure what it was so they referred him for an abdominal wall ultrasound. During the ultrasound the radiologist informed us that the lump was not on the abdominal wall but on his liver. James then had an MRI scan and he was referred to the children's hospital at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI). We met with a liver surgeon who referred James for a liver biopsy as the scans were not conclusive. On 20th December 2019 we met with consultants from the LGI who gave us the news. James was diagnosed with a rare cancer called Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma (FLHC) - this is a form of liver cancer which mainly affects adolescents and young people under 40 who have otherwise healthy livers. It is thought that approximately 200 people per year are diagnosed with FLHC worldwide. Generally there are no symptoms early on therefore it is often not spotted until the tumour has grown or spread to other parts of the body. There is some research into the disease, but nowhere near enough, and all research relies upon international collaboration due to its rarity. We were told that James had a tumour on the left lobe of his liver and that he would need to have an operation to remove it. The operation was carried out at the LGI on 31st December 2019. James was in surgery for over 10 hours. The operation was performed by Mr Alizai and Mr Dawrant, both of whom are our heroes. James spent 3 nights on the High Dependency Unit before being moved to a liver ward. The care he received was incredible and we credit this and James' strength for the fact that he was home 6 days after the operation. Currently all traces of the disease have been removed, however the next step is for James to have adjuvant chemotherapy for approximately 3 - 4 months which will be starting soon. Throughout all of this James has been absolutely amazing. Whilst James was undoing tests he sat some of his mock GCSE exams (achieving a 7 in Geography, yippee!). Since the operation James has recovered well. He has been into school, seen his friends, watched Bradford City play and supported the football team he plays for (Salts Tigers under 16s). James is a keen footballer and is very keen to get back on the pitch! In short, he is an absolute legend and we are so proud of him! James has decided that he would like to fundraise over the coming months and we are thinking of ideas for when James has finished chemotherapy. James is going to be taking part in a Cancer Research Clinical Trial which is assessing the use of chemotherapy for treating liver cancers, and he is asking people to consider donating to Cancer Research today. We have asked for any donations to go to research into rare cancers. Feel free to share this page. Thanks for reading!