Callum tried to live life to full

THE parents of a five-year-old who died from a rare form of bone cancer have paid tribute to their “determined little boy”.

Callum Weir was diagnosed with rare bone cancer Ewing’s sarcoma, a disease that more typically affects teenagers, at just six months old.

Despite a long battle, he sadly passed away at the Sick Kids hospital last month.

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The brave youngster endured repeated hospital stays, almost two years of chemotherapy and months of radiotherapy during his fight against the disease.

Today, parents Alison, 33, and David, 34, paid tribute to their son, who refused to let the disease stop him from doing the things he loved.

Mrs Weir, a primary school teacher, said: “He was very determined to not let things stop him doing anything – he wanted to get on with life.

“In November last year, he was in hospital for high-dose chemotherapy and when he came out, he was desperate to go back to school.”

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Mr Weir added that Callum, who spent around two years at Little Monkeys Nursery in Newington before the family moved to Cambridgeshire in December 2009, was a “real double act” with his six-year-old sister, Hannah.

The chance of Ewing’s sarcoma occurring in a six-month-old baby is around one in five million.

Following Callum’s initial diagnosis in 2006, he underwent an operation to remove part of his upper arm at the Sick Kids and endured a total of 18 months of chemotherapy, causing him to lose his hair.

Callum, who would have started primary two next week, appeared to be on the road to recovery but a routine chest X-ray in June last year revealed a tumour in his chest, which was subsequently removed.

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In June this year, his parents were given the heartbreaking news that he had another tumour in his chest. This time, it was terminal.

Mrs Weir said: “We knew he had months possibly, but they couldn’t give us a definitive time.”

Mr Weir, an electronics engineer, added: “Knowing that we might not have very long probably changed the way we looked at things. It was just a case of doing as much as we could.”

The family made the most of the next two months, with the Round Table Children’s Wish funding a dream holiday to Disneyland Paris in July.

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Mrs Weir said: “Callum met his hero, Buzz Lightyear, and Woody.”

It was during a visit to see Callum’s grandparents in Fife last month that he started to feel unwell. He was taken to the Sick Kids hospital and died peacefully almost two days later.

The couple would like to thank staff at the Sick Kids, who helped Callum through his illness, as well as the Bone Cancer Research Trust.

Callum’s funeral took place at Seafield Crematorium on August 23.

Mrs Weir, who is expecting a baby at the end of the month, said: “Callum had decided it was a boy and he was going to be called Tiddler.”

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