The family of an 11-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with brain cancer is trying to raise funds to get him treatment abroad. Schoolboy Ronnie Hood, from Great Cornard, near Sudbury, was diagnosed with a diffuse midline glioma, also known as DIPG, in March. The Wells Hall Primary School pupil had been receiving physio for a year with no improvement.
Ronnie Hood in hospital (Image: Supplied) His parents, Vicky, 50, and Nick, 58, who have a family of five children between them, pushed for an MRI scan on February 20 which discovered a tumour growing “like an octopus” on Ronnie’s brain stem, close to the top of his spine. Nick, who did the physio exercises with his son but noticed his symptoms were worsening, said: “Ronnie cried in pain and frustration. He wasn’t getting better and then he had a numbness in his right hand.
"When we got the results of the MRI, we couldn’t believe the news that he had brain cancer. It was like we had been hit by a bus. "He’s a handsome, confident and well-loved little boy who was fit and healthy - how could this be happening?" Ronnie pictured in January (Image: Supplied) Ronnie has had surgery and radiotherapy but the family is now raising money to help fund private treatment abroad.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to pay for ONC201, an oral experimental drug being trialled in the United States for the variation of tumour that Ronnie has. The family are trying to raise £50,000 , with some £16,000 already donated, which Nick descri.