{"id":665737,"date":"2026-01-01T00:23:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/665737\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T00:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:23:21","slug":"were-being-wiped-out-familys-cancer-curse-strikes-another-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/665737\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We\u2019re being wiped out\u2019 \u2014 family\u2019s cancer curse strikes another child"},"content":{"rendered":"

When 14-year-old Rhyan Worthington collapsed at school, his family feared the worstRhyan Worthington from Ilfracombe<\/p>\n

A North Devon family with an inherited condition which puts them at high risk of developing cancer have been left heartbroken after their 14 year-old son was diagnosed with a brain tumour.<\/p>\n

Rhyan Worthington collapsed at school with a seizure last month just before his fourteenth birthday. Days later he was in hospital awaiting brain surgery.<\/p>\n

Rhyan\u2019s uncle, Cody Worthington, a registered paramedic, said: \u201cRhyan was in A&E in Barnstaple<\/a>, and he was deteriorating fast \u2013 seizures, pain, neurological problems. Within two days, scans confirmed he had a sizeable brain tumour. He was blue-lighted to Bristol Children\u2019s Hospital. It was absolutely devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Worthington family live with an inherited genetic condition called Lynch Syndrome that\u2019s haunted them for generations. The syndrome is a hereditary disorder that dramatically increases the risk of developing various cancers which tend to show up in middle age.<\/p>\n

Rhyan Worthington from Ilfracombe<\/p>\n

Cody said: \u201cWe have a particularly aggressive mutation, HMLH1. We were diagnosed back in 2007 after my sister Lauren died from cancer at just 18. Since then, 10 of us across two generations have tested positive. Only three haven\u2019t developed cancer yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s had a massive impact on our mental health. Every one of us is just waiting. We absolutely expect cancer to hit. It\u2019s become normal in our family. Honestly, I feel like we\u2019re being killed off one by one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Rhyan\u2019s tumour is cancerous and related to Lynch, he\u2019ll be the youngest in the family so far to be diagnosed. He\u2019s already the youngest to show such serious symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhyan\u2019s parents, Ricky and Holly, are separated but co-parent their children in Ilfracombe<\/a>. With Ricky aged 41 and Holly 40, both currently unable to work during this crisis. They split their time between hospital visits in Bristol and caring for their other three sons at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re exhausted,\u201d Cody admits. \u201cOne has to be in Bristol with Rhyan, the other in Ilfracombe with the boys. They\u2019ve no charity accommodation, so they travel back most nights. No public transport can really support the journey. Their cars were both broken when this started. I\u2019ve been doing most of the driving and support work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, without help, we\u2019d not be able to keep going more than a week or two,\u201d says Cody. \u201cFuel alone is burning through what little we have. There\u2019s also food, parking, accommodation, and provisions for Rhyan. His parents tried to give me their last pounds just to help with the driving. I couldn\u2019t take it but I\u2019ve not got much either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhyan Worthington from Ilfracombe<\/p>\n

Reluctantly, Cody set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help improve the financial situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a proud family. We don\u2019t ask for help, especially not money. But we knew we had no choice. If this is a months or years-long journey, we need support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The response has been overwhelming. \u201cWe\u2019ve been astounded,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople we don\u2019t even know have donated. The support has taken a huge weight off. It means we can focus on Rhyan, not survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cody says Rhyan\u2019s coping \u201csurprisingly well\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a quiet lad, enjoys gaming, comics, DC and Marvel. He\u2019s private, a bit stoic even. He just wants to be back home and back to normal. Given what he\u2019s going through, he\u2019s been an absolute trooper \u2013 still light-hearted at times, still managing to make us laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the dire circumstances, the Worthingtons are a tight-knit, quietly resilient family. \u201cWe\u2019ve had phenomenal support,\u201d says Cody. \u201cPeople offering lifts, fixing cars, donating. Just being there. I suppose we\u2019ve learned to survive by holding each other up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just hope it\u2019s an isolated tumour and that recovery is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhyan Worthington from Ilfracombe<\/p>\n

The family are also highlighting the need for better screening and are raising awareness about the condition to help others.<\/p>\n

Cody said: \u201cWe\u2019re only screened for bowel cancer with colonoscopies and oesophageal cancer with gastroscopies. But we\u2019ve had cancers all over the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NHS<\/a> won\u2019t test or screen children for Lynch until they\u2019re 18. Screening doesn\u2019t even start until 25. That leaves a generation of at-risk, kids like Rhyan, in limbo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve known about our risks for nearly two decades, and we\u2019ve been begging for broader screening and earlier intervention ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, as Rhyan lies in a hospital bed in Bristol, awaiting urgent brain surgery, that plea has taken on new urgency.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s genetic team is also investigating the possibility that their strain of Lynch may be even more dangerous than previously thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s suspicion we may have CMMRD,\u201d Cody says. This is a rare and severe condition where children inherit mutated genes from both parents, leading to extremely high cancer risks early in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve heard nothing since that initial suspicion. It hasn\u2019t changed our testing or screening protocols. We\u2019re still in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhyan Worthington from Ilfracombe<\/p>\n

Cody was Rhyan\u2019s age when he lost his sister Lauren. \u201cI know how it affected me then and how it\u2019s stayed with me all my life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Cody is now focused not just on Rhyan\u2019s battle, but on raising the need for early testing, broader screening, more informed healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many doctors don\u2019t know what Lynch Syndrome even is,\u201d he says. \u201cThey think it just causes bowel cancer in people over 40. But the more serious mutations, like ours, lead to childhood cancers. Doctors need to know that. Parents need to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

His message to others is blunt but vital: \u201cGet screened. Make sure your GP understands the risks. Push for your kids to be tested. Don\u2019t let the system ignore the early signs. Lynch Syndrome is deadly, and it doesn\u2019t wait for you to hit 40.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope Rhyan can go back to being a teenager. That we get the help we need to keep him surrounded by his family. And maybe one day, families like ours won\u2019t have to beg to be taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe page has been launched to help the family at this time.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When 14-year-old Rhyan Worthington collapsed at school, his family feared the worstRhyan Worthington from Ilfracombe A North Devon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[90890,105,177572,211,90889,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-665737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-barnstaple","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ilfracombe","11":"tag-nhs","12":"tag-north-devon","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115816995641873814","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665737","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=665737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}