2-year-old Lanark, Ont. boy travelling to Boston for tumour treatment

A two-year-old boy from Lanark who has spent the past month at CHEO is set to travel to Boston in the hopes of permanently removing a brain tumour.

Jessica Duval says her son Phoenix started experiencing symptoms about three months ago.

"It started Easter weekend, his throwing up, holding his head, and not being able to walk properly," she tells CTV News.

After trips to numerous area hospitals searching for answers, Duval was sent to Ottawa, with her family checking into CHEO on June 9. They've been here ever since.

Phoenix was diagnosed with a large tumour and water on his brain. It took a 17-hour surgery by doctors at CHEO to do everything they could.

"It was the size of a lime that they had removed from the back of his head, so pretty big," said James Hogan, Phoenix's father.

"They said that if he wouldn't have gotten treatment when he did when we finally found out, he would have died," added Duval.

Doctors were able to remove 99 per cent of the tumour, but the family says doctors have directed them to a hospital in Boston where Phoenix can receive special targeted treatment to eliminate the remaining one per cent.

The family will receive a call and leave for Massachusetts at the drop of a hat at some point this week.

The treatment will take seven weeks and will be covered by OHIP. But the expenses surrounding the trip, such as travel and meals will not be.

Duval's family has organized a fundraiser, taking place at the Carleton Place Legion on Aug. 11 to help cover costs for the family.

"It's just to be able to raise as much as we can to get them to Boston and bring them back home healthy," says Claire Duval, Jessica's aunt who is organizing the fundraiser.

"Because they both have to go off work to go to the hospital and they've been there with that little boy for the last two months, two and a half months."

"It's actually heart warming to see how much work that they've put into it," said Duval.

"That's pretty much what's keeping us going right now, is whoever is helping us," added Hogan.

Currently Phoenix is doing well and his parents are optimistic of what a summer in Boston will mean for his future.

"He will need frequent MRIs to make sure that nothing has grown back," says Duval, "so there will be still quite a lot of testing stuff that he has to go through."