Callum Stone was sent home from school with a headache in January and has since been diagnosed with a grade four brain tumour
A sporty teenager who was sent home from school with a headache has been diagnosed with an “inoperable” brain tumour. His family are now desperately seeking health treatment options abroad.
Callum Stone, 15, from Chelmsford, Essex, was collected from school by his step-father, Mark Ferris, after he began struggling to speak properly. Callum, described as a keen cyclist and sports enthusiast, suffered three seizures en route to the hospital.
Following further tests at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) in London, he was diagnosed with a grade four brain tumour. The tumour is growing in a complex pattern, likened to a cobweb, making it impossible to operate on.
Despite the grim diagnosis, Callum remains positive, focusing on his fitness and diet. His family have raised more than £50,000 through a GoFundMe page to explore alternative treatments overseas, as they believe there are no other options available on the NHS, reports Essex Live.
Speaking to PA Real Life, 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 have described their son Callum as an active teenager who is “very into his sport”.
“He cycles to school every day, he’s doing GCSE PE, he loves basketball,” shared Sarah. Mark added: “He’s been going to the gym and doing his own exercise, being very independent with it.”
On 20 January 2025, Sarah received a worrying call from Callum’s secondary school requesting if a family member could collect him due to a headache that led him to the medical room. When Mark arrived to pick him up, he noticed something was off.
“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.” Concerned, Mark took Callum straight to A&E at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, where on the way, Callum experienced three seizures.
After spending a week in hospital undergoing various tests, including a lumbar puncture, CT scan, and MRI, which showed slight inflammation on his brain, Sarah said, “Although they were concerned, they thought it might be a viral infection,” and felt relieved when he was discharged with anti-seizure medication, thinking things were “back to normal”.
However, due to his age, Callum was also referred to GOSH in London. It was during a follow-up appointment there that a more detailed MRI scan uncovered a “large tumour” in Callum’s brain.
The family were informed on February 11 that he had a diffuse grade four glioma – a type of cancerous tumour which starts in the brain, after undergoing a biopsy on the mass on February 5.
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. Sarah described the experience as “shattering,” adding: “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 noted that 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. Sarah said: “He’s gone from being a boy who has never been sick to taking so many different tablets and being in hospital”.
Callum has been focusing on his fitness regime and diet to stay healthy, with Mark noting that he has been returning to the gym over the past few weeks. Sarah shared that despite the circumstances: “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.”
She also revealed the emotional toll, saying: “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 has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for alternative cancer treatments abroad. Callum is due to begin ongoing chemotherapy treatment in tablet form next month, but Sarah explained that “for his type of tumour, there are no other treatment options for him on the NHS really”.
She continued: “We’re starting to look abroad with things that are quite specific to his condition. 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 fundraising efforts have already surpassed £50,000, and Mark described the support as “emotional”, “lovely” and “overwhelming”. 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.”
For more information or to contribute to Callum’s treatment, visit the GoFundMe page here.