"Heartbreaking trip to Birmingham A&E: My 5-year-old’s stomach ache turned out to be a 17cm tumour"

Meet brave Foxx Charvis-Ward. She’s only 5 years old and was tragically diagnosed with cancer on what should have been her first day of year one.

As her family were pushed into their own living nightmare, Foxx’s bravery throughout has amazed not just her loved ones but her entire school community at St Margaret’s School in Great Barr.

In an exclusive interview with BirminghamWorld, Foxx’s mum Rio Smith has spoken of her “living nightmare”.

Mum Rio - who Foxx lives with in Birmingham along with her brothers Rexx, 10 and King, 8 - said it all began when Foxx constantly complained of stomach ache.

Fast-forward four hours from arriving at A&E with what her mum believed to be appendix issues - doctors were bracing the family for the worst possible news that they had found a 17cm cancerous tumour.

Not only had the tumour taken hold on Foxx’s kidney, it had also spread to her lungs.

Heartbroken mum Rio said: “The day she was meant to start year one, I took her in to A&E with bad stomach ache, I thought it was her appendix. We sat in A&E for hours and she was playing away with the other children.

“I thought maybe I have overreacted bringing her to A&E for stomach ache but I just had a gut feeling. Fast forward about four hours I was told she has a 17cm cancerous tumour on her kidney that has spread to her lungs. Literally changed our world. I haven’t even had time to process it all.”

Since that day, life has been one hundred miles an hour for Foxx and her family. The youngster has had three rounds of chemotherapy, an operation and she has another one planned for the start of November.

Her mum, who has given up her job as a promotional model to care full-time for Foxx, said: “She is dealing with it so well. She’s amazing! So brave and she’s got used to her central line which she calls her ‘wiggly’. They are used to take bloods and give her chemo, so she doesn’t have to have needles every time.”

A desperate fundraiser has now been launched to help Foxx’s mum to help cover essential costs, including travel to and from the hospital, parking, medical supplies, and comfortable clothing for her treatments.

Her family described Foxx as the “sweetest, most beautiful kind-hearted girl you would ever meet.”

Her mum added: “She sees the other children on the cancer ward in Birmingham children’s hospital and she’s like ‘oh look at them I feel so sorry for them, they’re so beautiful’.”

Foxx loves everything pink, unicorns, Disney, Bluey and Stitch. Her mum said she dreams of one day helping poorly people.

Rio said: “Every time we drive to hospital we pass the same homeless man and she always takes a pound out of her money box to give him. I can’t tell you how insane life is right now. Her brothers are processing it well. They love her so much. I talk to her about every stage, every time we go hospital I explain what’s going to happen in advance so there’s no surprises.”

Foxx is unable to walk far at the moment and is wheelchair bound, but her mum is giving her 24-hour care to make her as comfortable as possible.

So far, they've raised over £3,200, find the fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ourr-little-foxx?cdn-cache=0