Rio's campaign

Rio is a happy little boy from Surrey who adores anything to do with cars and loves eating. His best friend is his big sister Lillyrose who he loves spending time with. Rio is a much loved, and much longed for sibling for Lillyrose, who would ask Santa for a baby brother every year. After a difficult birth with Lillyrose and the removal of her left ovary and fallopian tube, mum Vickie fell pregnant with their miracle baby Rio who was born in April 2021.

In August 2023, their beautiful blonde baby boy was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that has a 40-50% chance of long-term survival at diagnosis.

Rio’s parents, Vickie and Don, are fundraising for potentially lifesaving treatment not available through the NHS, either to get their son into remission or to try and keep the cancer away if his frontline treatment goes to plan. This could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Follow Rio's story on social media.

Rio’s story 

In late 2022, Rio’s parents noticed he had trouble hearing and discovered he had glue ear. After being fitted with grommets in his ears, Rio began to hear as normal and started learning to talk.

In August 2023, Rio’s parents began to notice that he had a loss of appetite, was tiring very quickly and had pain in his bones. Due to Rio’s delayed speech from his glue ear he was unable to communicate what he was feeling to his parents.

After these issues persisted, Rio and his parents were back and forth at their local hospital for two months due to Rio spiking a temperature constantly, walking with a limp, and going off his food and refusing to eat. After being an inpatient for 12 days Rio's parents were told that he appeared to have a blocked kidney, but after being transferred to St George's Hospital, further scans devastatingly revealed a large solid tumour located near to his right kidney. The disease by this point had metastasised to his bone marrow, shoulder, pelvis, lower spine and skeletal frame in his skull. 

On the 25^th August 2023, Rio’s family were given the devastating news that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma.

Treatment so far 

High-risk neuroblastoma is particularly aggressive and so the treatment for neuroblastoma is equally as aggressive. Rio has begun induction chemotherapy which is the first stage of frontline treatment for high-risk neuroblastoma on the NHS. This stage of treatment will comprise of Rio having chemotherapy for roughly two-three days every 10 days for a total of 70 days depending on Rio’s recovery between sessions.

The next step once chemotherapy has been completed will hopefully be surgery to remove as much of the main tumour as possible before Rio goes on to the other stages of frontline treatment. He will then go on to have high-dose chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, radiotherapy and Rio will complete his frontline treatment with six months of immunotherapy.

Rio’s diagnosis has had a huge effect on the whole family, especially big sister Lillyrose who has developed a twitch in her neck since Rio was diagnosed.

"Lillyrose is very much a family girl and wears her heart on her sleeve. She has had to grow up fast and asks me heart breaking questions about Rio's treatment, things a little girl shouldn't be worrying about," Rio's mum, Vickie.

Vickie and Don are supporting Lillyrose to understand what her brother is going through and what may lie ahead for the family.

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_{Solving Kids' Cancer UK's children's fundraising campaigns} 

_{Funds raised will go towards helping Rio and his family. If Rio no longer needs the funds or is in remission five years post the end of successful treatment, the funds will be used to support other children and families affected by neuroblastoma through our activities. For children with high-risk neuroblastoma, like Rio, the survival rate is much lower than other childhood cancers. Upon relapse, this rate reduces even further.}