A sporty 15-year-old who was sent home from school with a headache has seen his life transformed after being diagnosed with an ‘inoperable’ brain tumour.
Callum Stone, 15, who lives in Chelmsford, Essex, with his mother, Sarah Ferris, 41, his step-father, Mark Ferris, 42, and his 14-year-old brother William is described by his family as someone who is “very into his sport” and cycles to school everyday.
They are now desperately searching for treatment options overseas, having already raised over £50,000 to help them explore Callum’s options.
Sarah and Mark received a call from Callum’s school in January asking a family member to collect him. When Mark arrived, he said his step-son was struggling to speak properly.
Callum had three seizures on the way to a local hospital and, after having further scans and tests at Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) for Children in London, was diagnosed with a grade four brain tumour which is growing “like a cobweb”, making it impossible to operate.
The sporty youngster is remaining positive by concentrating on his fitness and diet however, and his family have raised more than £50,000 after launching a GoFundMe page to help them explore alternative treatments abroad as they say there are “no other options for him on the NHS”.
Callum said: “Starting off, it was a bit hard and I was a bit moody and quiet – but I’ve been feeling better lately.
“Eating well and exercising actually makes you feel a lot better and I’ve been walking the dog, riding my bike and going out to the gym.
“To others in my position, I’d say go out for walks with your family and keep telling lots of jokes.”
Sarah and Mark described Callum as an active teenager who was “very into his sport.”
“He cycles to school everyday, he’s doing GCSE PE, he loves basketball,” Sarah said.
Mark added: “He’s been going to the gym and doing his own exercise, being very independent with it.”
On January 20 2025, Sarah said she received a call from Callum’s secondary school to see if anyone from the family could collect him as he had visited the medical room with a headache.
Mark, who went to pick him up, said: “He told me quite loudly in reception at school he loved me but he wasn’t getting his words out quite right, he wasn’t coming across as normal.”
Mark decided to take him to A&E at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, but Callum suffered with three seizures along the way.
Callum spent one week at the hospital where a series of tests were carried out, including a lumbar puncture, a CT scan and an MRI scan – the latter of which showed slight inflammation on Callum’s brain.
“Although they were concerned, they thought it might be a viral infection,” Sarah said, adding he was later discharged with anti-seizure medication and she felt things were “back to normal”.
Due to Callum’s age, he was also put under the care of Gosh in London.
The family attended a follow-up appointment there a week later where another, more detailed, MRI scan revealed a “large tumour” in Callum’s brain.
He underwent a biopsy on the mass on February 5 and on February 11, the family were informed he had a diffuse grade four glioma – a type of cancerous tumour which starts in the brain.
Sarah, Mark, Callum’s father and step-mother all travelled to Gosh to receive the news, which they later delivered to Callum at home together.
“It was shattering,” Sarah said.
“In a matter of hours, our world has just completely been thrown upside down but a few months ago, we were just a normal family.”
She added: “It’s inoperable, it grows like a cobweb so they would need to take away too much of the healthy cells.
“It’s quite hard to explain something like that to a child and his brother.”
Mark added Callum was more concerned about his family members when they delivered the news, saying he “smiled and hugged us”.
On February 14, the family travelled to University College Hospital in London where Callum later received six weeks of daily radiotherapy from February 24.
He completed the course on April 4 and he will receive an MRI scan on May 5 to see how the tumour has responded to the treatment.
“He’s gone from being a boy who has never been sick to taking so many different tablets and being in hospital,” Sarah said.
Callum has been concentrating on his fitness regime and his diet to remain healthy, with Mark saying he has been going back to the gym over the last few weeks.
“He’s been very good, he’s been exercising and keeping in touch with his friends – he’s doing as well as you could be,” Sarah added.
“There are times away from the kids where you didn’t think you could ever cry so hard but as soon as you see them, you want to start planning things, going out and seeing friends, family.
“They make it easier to get through the days.”
The family have launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to explore alternative cancer treatments abroad.
Callum will start ongoing chemotherapy treatment in tablet form next month, but Sarah said “for his type of tumour, there are no other treatment options for him on the NHS really”.
“We’re starting to look abroad with things that are quite specific to his condition,” she added.
“There’s a clinic in Germany, there are some clinical trials for things similar to Callum’s in San Francisco.
“We’re just looking for other options, we’re looking everywhere.”
Their fundraiser has gained more than £50,000 so far, and Mark said it has been “emotional”, “lovely” and “overwhelming” to see the donations come in.
Sarah added: “It’s really just to let people know that we’re trying to find other options for him and this will be his best chance, but obviously that comes at a massive cost.”
To find out more, visit the fundraiser for Callum here: gofundme.com/f/raising-funds-for-callums-brain-tumour-treatment
