1 day Ago By Helen McGurk
Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Belfast News Letter, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Callum Stone, 15, who lives in Essex , with his mother, Sarah-Jane Ferris, his step-father, Mark Ferris from Limavady , and his 14-year-old brother William, was diagnosed with a grade four glioma just weeks ago. On January 20, 2025, Sarah-Jane said she received a call from Callum’s secondary school to see if anyone from the family could collect him as he had visited the medical room with a headache.
Advertisement Advertisement Mark, who went to pick him up, said: “He told me quite loudly in reception at school he loved me but he wasn’t getting his words out quite right, he wasn’t coming across as normal.” He decided to take Callum to A&E at a local hospital, but the youngster suffered with three seizures along the way. Callum spent one week at the hospital where a series of tests were carried out, including a lumbar puncture, a CT scan and an MRI scan – the latter of which showed slight inflammation on Callum’s brain.
“Although they were concerned, they thought it might be a viral infection,” Sarah-Jane said, adding Callum was later discharged with anti-seizure medication and the family felt things were “back to normal”. Advertisement Advertisement Due to Callum’s age, he was also put under the care of Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) in London. The family attended a follow-up appointment there a week later where another, more detailed, MRI scan revealed a “large tumour” in Callum’s brain.
He underwent a biopsy on the mass on February 5 and on February 11, the family were informed he had a diffuse grade four glioma. Sarah, Mark, Callum’s father and step-mother all travelled to Gosh to receive the news, which they later delivered to Callum at home together. “It was shattering,” Sarah said.
Advertisement Advertisement “In a matter of hours, our world has just completely been thrown upside down but a few months ago, we were just a normal family.” She added: “It’s inoperable, it grows like a cobweb so they would need to take away too much of the healthy cells. It’s quite hard to explain something like that to a child and his brother.
” Mark added Callum was more concerned about his family members when they delivered the news, saying he “smiled and hugged us”. On February 14, the family travelled to University College Hospital in London where Callum later received six weeks of daily radiotherapy from February 24. He completed the course on April 4 and he will receive an MRI scan on May 5 to see how the tumour has responded to the treatment.
Advertisement Advertisement Sarah said: "This has come completely out of the blue for our family. Before the 20th of January, Callum was fit and healthy and didn’t have any other symptoms. This has completely turned our world upside down.
“He’s gone from being a boy who has never been sick to taking so many different tablets and being in hospital.” Mark added: "Callum is a funny, kind, loving, friendly boy who always looks out for others. He is a brilliant big brother to William, who is only a year younger than him, and his little sister, Amelia, who is 7 years old.
” Sarah and Mark described Callum as an active teenager who is “very into his sport.” Advertisement Advertisement “He cycles to school everyday, he’s doing GCSE PE, he loves basketball.” The sporty youngster is remaining positive by concentrating on his fitness and diet.
Mark added: “He’s been going to the gym and doing his own exercise, being very independent with it. “Callum loves going to school, even managing to get back for a few days after his surgery to see his friends. Callum enjoys swimming, cycling, weight training, basketball, and playing Minecraft.
He’s working hard towards sitting his GCSEs next year.” Advertisement Advertisement His family launched a GoFundMe page to help them explore alternative treatments abroad. Callum will start ongoing chemotherapy treatment in tablet form next month, but Sarah-Jane said “for his type of tumour, there are no other treatment options for him on the NHS really”.
"Along with our friends and family, we have been researching day and night other treatment options, including pioneering immunotherapy available abroad. “There’s a clinic in Germany, there are some clinical trials for things similar to Callum’s in San Francisco. We’re just looking for other options, we’re looking everywhere.
” Advertisement Advertisement Their fundraiser has gained more than £95,000 so far, and Mark said it has been “emotional”, “lovely” and “overwhelming” to see the donations come in. Sarah added: “It’s really just to let people know that we’re trying to find other options for him and this will be his best chance, but obviously that comes at a massive cost.” To find out more, visit the fundraiser for Callum here: gofundme.
com/f/raising-funds-for-callums-brain-tumour-treatment ..
