{"id":438070,"date":"2025-09-20T08:05:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T08:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/438070\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T08:05:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T08:05:40","slug":"our-boy-has-beaten-cancer-twice-but-now-he-needs-to-do-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/438070\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Our boy has beaten cancer twice – but now he needs to do it again’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six-year-old Tommy Verbicka’s family are urging other parents to ‘demand answers’Tommy Verbickas was diagnosed with Wilms tumour when he was just 2 years old(Image: PA Real Life )<\/p>\n

The parents of a six-year-old boy facing cancer for a third time have begun fundraising to give him \u201cthe best possible chance of beating\u201d the disease.<\/p>\n

At just two years old, in February 2022, Tommy Verbickas, from Sale<\/a>, Greater Manchester, was diagnosed with Wilms tumour, a type of kidney cancer, after doctors discovered a mass on his left kidney.<\/p>\n

He underwent chemotherapy, surgery and countless hospital visits, and he rang the end-of-treatment bell in November 2022, with his parents, Rebecca and Darius, believing \u201cthat chapter was closed\u201d.<\/p>\n

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However, Tommy has since relapsed twice and is facing cancer for a third time \u2013 and his parents have been told his \u201cchance of cure is now low\u201d.<\/p>\n

With local treatment options being limited, the couple are fundraising for \u201cclinical trials and innovative therapies not available through the NHS<\/a>\u201d to give him the best chance to \u201cget better and win this\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time (of his first diagnosis), one of the play specialists said, \u2018If you\u2019re going to get cancer, this is the best cancer to get\u2019,\u201d Rebecca told PA Real Life.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, looking back, I just think, how can she say that?<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no choice but to carry on and be the strongest version for him. It\u2019s him that drives me, he\u2019s my inspiration, he\u2019s my superhero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca describes Tommy as an active, cheeky and smiley six-year-old boy, who loves football, dancing and playing with his four siblings.<\/p>\n

In the months prior to his diagnosis, in 2021, Rebecca explained that Tommy \u201ckept being sick\u201d, regularly had high temperatures, experienced weight loss and constipation and his testicles were swollen.<\/p>\n

However, every time they visited the GP, she claims they were sent away and told \u201cit\u2019s viral\u201d.<\/p>\n

She believes she visited the GP at least four times and she went to hospital twice \u2013 and she said \u201cit still didn\u2019t get diagnosed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rebecca phoned NHS 111 in February 2022 for further advice and a doctor visited their home, arranging for Tommy to give a urine sample and have his bloods taken.<\/p>\n

While waiting for a blood test, which Rebecca said \u201cthe GP didn\u2019t follow up on\u201d, Tommy started to improve \u2013 but less than two weeks later, Rebecca\u2019s mother noticed blood in his nappy.<\/p>\n

After asking the GP for Tommy\u2019s medical notes, they rushed him to A&E, and Rebecca said this is when she first saw cancer mentioned in the notes as suspected \u201cleukaemia or myeloma\u201d.<\/p>\n

An urgent scan then revealed that Tommy, then aged two, had a 2.3kg mass on his left kidney, specifically Wilms tumour, and they were transferred to the Royal Manchester Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

According to Cancer Research UK, Wilms tumour is a type of kidney cancer which most commonly affects young children and symptoms include blood in urine, loss of appetite, fever, weight loss and constipation.<\/p>\n

Tommy soon started chemotherapy and doctors told Rebecca that he had \u201ca good chance\u201d of reaching remission, but she found the diagnosis \u201cvery hard\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first walked on to the oncology ward, I just completely broke down,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t ever think you\u2019re going to be put in that situation\u2026 but doctors said there was a 95% chance of it not coming back on this treatment and he should go on to live life.\u201d<\/p>\n

After undergoing 38 weeks of chemotherapy, eight sessions of proton beam therapy and \u201can eight-hour surgery\u201d to remove his left kidney, Rebecca said he was like \u201ca different child\u201d and started recovering.<\/p>\n

He rang the end-of-treatment bell in November 2022, and Rebecca said they \u201ctruly believed that chapter was closed\u201d as scans showed no evidence of disease.<\/p>\n

Tommy ringing the end-of-treatment bell in November 2022(Image: Family Handouts\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

Tommy started nursery again and was \u201cgetting stronger every day\u201d, but during one of his maintenance scans in September 2023, doctors told Rebecca the cancer had returned in his lungs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember coming home that day and he was playing on his scooter, and I thought, \u2018How have we just been told that it\u2019s come back?\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rebecca said he \u201creacted well\u201d to the chemotherapy, although he did lose his hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, and he underwent two surgeries to remove the cancerous tissue in his lungs, along with radiotherapy.<\/p>\n

In August 2024, Rebecca and Darius were told there was no evidence of disease again.<\/p>\n

However, in May 2025, less than a year later, Rebecca said they were given \u201cnews no parent ever wants to hear\u201d \u2013 that Tommy had relapsed for the second time, aged five.<\/p>\n

Scans revealed the cancer was \u201cextensive\u201d in his left lung and the couple were informed the \u201cchance of cure is now low\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rebecca said they were \u201cso hopeful the second time\u201d, so this news left her \u201cheartbroken and devastated\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like there was no point. All I wanted to do was stay in bed,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTommy just gets on with everything that\u2019s thrown at him\u2026 what he is doing is just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tommy has been going through \u201cmore intense chemotherapy\u201d and is responding well to treatment, and he will soon start \u201chigh-dose\u201d chemotherapy from October.<\/p>\n

However, after these chemotherapies, Rebecca said she has been told that \u201cthere are no treatments left on the NHS\u201d.<\/p>\n

The couple have therefore launched a JustGiving page to raise \u00a3300,000 to give Tommy \u201cthe best possible chance of beating this\u201d, where the funds would be used for travel and relocation, food, visas and more.<\/p>\n

Tommy with his dad Darius. (Image: Family Handouts\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be in the best possible situation,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though the treatment is working now and we\u2019re very grateful, the likelihood of it coming back is very high, and at that point, we would then need to source trials in America or anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca said Tommy is still active and keeping up with some schoolwork via an AV1 robot, which allows him to join in on lessons from home and speak to his friends, and she described him as her \u201cWilms warrior\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said his diagnoses have taught her not to \u201ctake the little things for granted\u201d and she is urging other parents to advocate for their child and \u201cdemand\u201d answers when it comes to their health.<\/p>\n

Speaking about how much raising the funds would mean to her, she added: \u201cEveryone who has donated and is doing their own fundraising, they\u2019re just incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing that people you\u2019ve never met are giving him a chance of life and surviving this, there are no words that would explain what that would do for us, for Tommy, the family, everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be incredible because no-one should have to fight for their life like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone wishing to donate can do so here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six-year-old Tommy Verbicka’s family are urging other parents to ‘demand answers’Tommy Verbickas was diagnosed with Wilms tumour when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1204,105,2619,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-438070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-sale","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115235595595130317","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}