A four-year-old boy from Newport who has a rare form of cancer is set to undergo a 12-hour surgery which could see him go cancer-free.
Doctors want to remove Archie Wilks’s initial tumour and the kidney it attached itself to, which has been the source of the cancer spread.
Having had most of his cancerous areas cleared since his diagnosis in January 2018, Archie recently came back home after going through the hardest part of his cancer treatment. He was not able to walk, because he had been laying in bed for a couple of months, but that changed once he was reunited with his twin brother, Henry.
Their father, Simon Wilks, said: “As soon as Archie came home he ran around in the garden for about three hours with Henry.”
Earlier this year, Archie spread positivity across the UK after beating Covid-19 while battling cancer.
But Simon said Archie cannot afford to catch any virus in the next few months: “They are thinking to schedule his surgery for the start of December, but it’s all based on his body recovering, and his immunity system. It’s potentially a 12-hour surgery.
“They are monitoring everything and he goes to the hospital a couple of times a week.
“We don’t know if he will be cancer free, but the tumour was the source of the cancer. There is a chance the tumour is now non-cancerous. We are hoping that when they check afterwards he will not have cancerous cells anymore.
“It’s a big thing and we are happy to know that he will have the tumour that caused his cancer removed from his body. We always worry there would be more cancer at scans because of how aggressive it can be.”
Archie was initially set to have the tumour removed after the first three months of treatment, but because he did not react to the treatment he was given in the first year, there has been a delay of 18 months.
A new treatment he started at the end of last year cleared most of his cancer and, since his diagnosis, he had no new cancerous areas.
Almost £200,000 has been raised for Archie’s treatment, and he is now short of around £30,000 to be able to have a vaccine to prevent future cancer.
Simon said: “We are still fundraising, it’s been hard over lockdown. We are still looking for people to do events.”
You can donate at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Archiesjourney?fbclid=IwAR3m7xoN0E5lLDy_1Kjeyxi4bsEtSpLYujMcCC9P8NVM1dfXDMIyM6qnKss
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