![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Oliver-Furnival-1.png\")
<\/p>\nA race night fundraiser is being held to raise awareness and support for a young Bootle family whose son was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer.<\/p>\n
Oliver Furnival, who\u2019s just eight months old, has retinoblastoma, a cancerous tumour that affects only around 40 or 50 children each year.<\/p>\n
Funds from Race Night for Oliver at Mel Inn Social Club on November 1 will be donated to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust, the charity that has supported Oliver\u2019s mum, Olivia Hannaford, and dad Tom, since they were given the heartbreaking news just four months ago.<\/p>\n
Olivia, 29, from Bootle, says:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe charity have been amazing, and they\u2019ve taken a lot of the worry away from us.<\/p>\n
\u201cOliver has to have his cancer treatment in Birmingham so they organise a hotel for us to stay in the night before, and they\u2019ve given us a support worker to guide us through and help us as Oliver goes through his treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how we\u2019d have managed without them.\u201d<\/p>\n
She adds: <\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, while Oliver will never have 20-20 vision, the doctors are hopeful that they can rid him of the tumour and save some of his sight in the eye that\u2019s affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a far more positive outcome than the one I first feared, when I thought I might lose my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oliver is the first child of beautician Olivia, and Tom, 29, who works for the DWP in Bootle.<\/p>\n
And while everything seemed normal when he was first born, Olivia soon noticed that something was wrong with her beautiful boy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOliver was diagnosed when he was five months old,\u201d explains Olivia. \u201cBut it was when he was coming up to four months that I started to get worried about his right eye, it just didn\u2019t seem to be as focused as his other one when he was looking at anything \u2013 and he\u2019s a very nosy child,\u201d she smiles.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stares at everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked other people if it looked different, but they thought it was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Olivia wondered if it was showing signs of a turn which can be caused by nerve or muscle problems and contacted her health visitor who referred her to Alder Hey: \u201cI thought he might need glasses.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when she and Tom returned from a short trip to Glastonbury \u2018where we got engaged two weeks before we found out\u2019, she realised it was getting worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he was looking a certain way there was a glow in his eye, like a full white shadow,\u201d says Olivia. \u201cI contacted Alder Hey as we were waiting for an appointment and they said to send photos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they asked us to go in, I felt sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a series of tests and scans Oliver was diagnosed with retinoblastoma which would need to be treated at Birmingham Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Hospital: <\/p>\n
\u201cMy first thought when I heard the word cancer was that Oliver might die.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t even remember walking out of the hospital, everything was just a blur. You never think it will happen to you and, for a moment, my world just fell apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olivia and Tom faced the possibility that their son might lose his eye because of the condition, that only affects children under five. But consultants were keen to try targeted chemotherapy to shrink the tumour and then laser treatment to break up the tumour \u2018and effectively kill it\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had three rounds of chemotherapy so far and it seems to be working well and, while Oliver\u2019s retina has become detached and will need to be reattached (if it doesn\u2019t reconnect itself) the cancer hadn\u2019t touched the lens which is a good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oliver will always have a lump in his eye and his family are expecting varying levels of vision once his treatment is completed: \u201cThey are going to assess Oliver in a couple of weeks to see if he needs a fourth chemo, and then they\u2019ll see if he needs more again after the laser treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully that will be it, and it will never return.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tests have fortunately revealed it\u2019s not genetic in Oliver\u2019s case, and Olivia says: <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been told that while he won\u2019t be able to be a surgeon or a pilot, or be in the army, if everything goes well, Oliver will be able to function perfectly well and see colours, or shadows or, even objects. Tom\u2019s hoping he\u2019ll still be able to play for Liverpool!\u201d<\/p>\n
Keen to be supportive Tom\u2019s close friend John McGunigle, player\/manager of Sefton OA community football club of which Tom is open age team manager, organised the Race Night to raise money for the charity and the couple \u2013 Tom\u2019s had to take time of work and Olivia has given up work while she cares for Oliver and takes him for appointments, sometimes at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n
But she says: <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so kind of John, but we will manage, so everything from the night will go to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so lucky to have them there to support us, and to have such incredible friends who want to be there for us and help us like they do. They\u2019ve all made a really difficult time easier to cope with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night will also mean that, as well as raising money, we can raise awareness so parents can look out for any signs and spot them early.\u201d<\/p>\n
John McGunigle has set up a Collctiv page to raise funds and is appealing for a sponsor for the evening as well as raffle and auction prizes to help collect as much as possible.<\/p>\n
You can help support the fundraiser here<\/a>. Find out what\u2019s good up North on our new platform, The Northern Guide.\u00a0
\nFind all the latest Liverpool news here<\/a>. <\/p>\n
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