Titchfield boy diagnosed with brain tumour as big as a lemon

Doctors discovered Archie Brown, 11, had a stage-four tumour the size of a lemon which was causing him headaches.

His mum Kelly, 42, said that her family has been thrown into a ‘living nightmare’ after the diagnosis on September 8 this year, which came about after she convinced doctors to do more tests.

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She said: "I just want other parents to go with their gut if they are ever in a similar position.

"Ninety nine per cent of the time the doctor is right, there is nothing to worry about – but something like this can happen to any parents.”

During the start of the school summer holidays, Archie seemed happy and excited, going rock climbing, swimming and meeting friends.

Just a few weeks later, in late August, Archie began getting mild headaches which it was thought were related to anxiety.

But when he started projectile vomiting, Kelly and husband Kev were ‘sure that something was wrong’ - and took Archie to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

Initial tests showed nothing was wrong.

But the mother of two said: “We just knew something wasn’t right and I told the hospital staff that we needed to have Archie scanned.”

8-year-old Maisie, father Kev, mother Kelly and Archie (Image: Submitted) Kelly and Kev’s parental gut instinct may have saved Archie’s life but revealed the worst.

You can donate to Archie's fundraiser here, which has raised more than £9,500 of a £12,000 target.

She continued: “I couldn’t process it properly then and still haven’t now.

“We were blue-lighted from QA to Southampton General for Archie to have an immediate operation."

Archie’s surgeon shared that she would hopefully be able to remove 50-60 per cent of his tumour but warned his parents of the risk of stroke and reduced movement in his right side.

The surgery was a huge success with Archie’s surgeon able to remove 90-95 per cent of Archie’s tumour.

Archie has only been able to spend two days at his new secondary school (Image: NQ) Kelly said: “We just wanted him to still be our Archie – he has such a sense of humour. We knew he was still our boy when he cracked a joke.

“All he wants is to be normal, go to school and be with his friends – he is so energetic and loves gymnastics and swimming.”

The family will need to be transferred to a specialist unit in London for eight weeks intensive radiotherapy.

The money will support the family, who can’t work while caring for Archie, looking after Archie’s 8-year-old sister Maisie and fund trips for Archie while he is in London getting treatment.

Kelly plans to take Archie to the London Zoo, London Eye and Buckingham Palace.