Ted was born in December 2020, amid a global pandemic. He was pure sunshine at what was a scary and uncertain time for the world. He was always happy and so content, with his bright blue eyes and mop of golden hair - he stole the heart of everybody who met him.
When Ted was 8 months old, he was diagnosed with an incredibly rare and aggressive type of cancer, called Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma, in his sinus, which we'd spotted as his right eye had started to bulge slightly. We took him to hospital, expecting to be told he had something in his eye. Instead, what we were to find out over those next few days was every parent's worst nightmare.
In August 2021, Ted began a gruelling treatment plan at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre. He battled through 6 cycles of chemotherapy before his tumour had shrunk enough to operate. An 11-hour operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital removed the majority of the tumour and after his surgery, Ted was set to receive another 8 cycles of chemotherapy before a decision was made on the next steps for his treatment.
Sadly, despite Ted recovering like an absolute superstar from surgery, and waltzing his way through the next 5 cycles of chemotherapy, he didn't get to the end of this treatment plan. In March 2022 scans showed that the cancer had metastasized very quickly to his brain and spinal cord. We were given the devastating news on 25th March 2022 that Ted's cancer was incurable. Our beautiful, brave, baby boy passed away just 15 days later on 9th April 2022, aged 16 months.
We had been raising money for a pioneering treatment called AMORE in the Netherlands, but as we would no longer be using the money for that, we wanted to instead use it to give something back and help other families like ours, and so The Little Ted Foundation was born.
Every donation helps us to support families with a child in hospital long term with our Help in Hospital Grants, and to put smiles on the faces of seriously ill children with our Memory Making Grants and Getaways.
