Sheffield toddler left in agony after tick bite actually had rare form of aggressive cancer

A little boy from Sheffield who was in agony after suffering a tick bite turned out to have a rare form of aggressive childhood cancer.

Three-year-old Jude Mellon-Jameson has undergone a range of cancer treatments after being diagnosed with neuroblastoma in July 2021.

At the point of diagnosis, Jude was given just a 50% chance of long-term survival. He is currently responding well to his treatment, his family live in fear of a relapse, which would see his chances of survival plummet down to 5%.

Desperate to give the youngster the best chance possible, his family are hoping to raise the hundreds of thousands of pounds needed for pioneering treatment in America.

Jude's mum, Lucy Mellon-Jameson, 33, said: "Long-term survival when you are three should not be looking at when you are eight years old."

The family first started noticing Jude was becoming unwell after he suffered a tick bite last summer.

Lucy said: "He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming in pain."

After several trips to A&E, numerous tests were undertaken to find out the cause of the range of symptoms Jude was experiencing.

Eventually, the family were asked if they wanted doctors to perform an MRI.

Lucy said: "I said yes, but I never thought that something so serious was wrong with him."

Then the day before Jude's third birthday, his parents were told a tumour had been found on his scan.

Jude has undergone chemotherapy, the removal of his primary tumour and is currently completing radiotherapy. He will begin immunotherapy at the end of this month.

She and Jude's dad Arron are trying to raise a total of £350,000 so that the youngster can travel to America for further treatment.

It is hoped a vaccination programme could help to prevent his cancer from returning.

People can donate to Jude's fundraiser for treatment here.