A young Perth footy player can’t walk, talk or eat as he battles a rare brain tumour that doctors originally thought was a bout of gastro.
The 11-year-old is in Perth Children’s Hospital where he has undergone seven surgeries in two months to remove the rare Rosette-forming glioneuronal tumor.
Archie Ferris had experienced intermittent vomiting for some time which doctors initially diagnosed with gastro.
However his mum Fay Ferris told 7NEWS.com.au she was heartened when a pharmacist told her to back her instincts.
“I’m not a paranoid mum,” she said.
“Archie’s a genuinely lovely lad and I knew something was wrong.
“I don’t know if he’d be here (if we hadn’t acted).”
In June, Archie was taken to Joondalup Hospital which his mum credits for saving his life.
“He had so much fluid on his brain that doctors said he should have died,” Fay said.
“He hadn’t quite been himself but even on the way to the hospital he was singing.
“It wasn’t that sudden, that’s what’s scared us.”
This isn’t the family’s first health battle, his sister fought leukaemia as an infant.
Archie’s football team, Yanchep United, will host a charity fundraiser at St Andrew’s Park on Saturday, August 26.
A crowdfunding effort was also launched to assist the family, with more than $23,000 raised so far.