A nine-year-old boy who has spent years of his life battling recurring brain tumors is now scaling the height of Mount Everest to raise money for charity.
Arthur Middleton, from Lincolnshire, had a difficult start in life when he was born prematurely at 26 weeks in 2014.
Just before his third birthday, Arthur’s parents, Claire and Henry, noticed that he was having seizures, was nauseous, slurred his speech, and had stopped using his right hand.
After an MRI, the couple was told their son had a brain tumor the size of a golf ball.
‘It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. You just go into overdrive thinking about what it means,” Claire, 41, told MailOnline.
Arthur Middleton, from Lincolnshire, bundled up as he takes on the challenge of scaling the height of Mount Everest.
Arthur had to undergo two surgeries to get rid of the tumors, as well as receiving medications to prevent them from growing back.
Claire says she is “honestly very proud” of her son for taking on this challenge which included climbing Buckden Pike in the Yorkshire Dales (pictured).
They were then lit blue to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, in 2017, where he underwent successful surgery and the family were due to move to North Carolina in January the following year.
After learning to walk again, Arthur had a scan in December and the family was told the tumor had grown again to the size of a ping pong ball.
Former solicitor Claire said this was “quite unusual” for a low grade tumor as it was quite “aggressive”. Arthur then underwent another surgery to remove this tumor when they crossed the pond.
The parents were then told that despite two surgeries to remove the tumor, it was still growing and that the next step was to try chemotherapy.
But after five months it stopped working.
Arthur was born prematurely at 26 weeks and was diagnosed with a brain tumor before he turned three.
Arthur’s parents, Henry and Claire, accompanied him on his climbs in the north of England.
Claire and Henry, who works in finance, found a clinical trial in the United States and got Arthur to sign up for it.
“We gave him a drug that is basically like a targeted therapy, because his tumor cells have a particular genetic mutation and we were lucky that they were in the process of testing various genetic mutations,” the housewife said. .
“Fortunately, he has one of the genetic mutations that one of the drugs targets, so we let him know in the United States.”
Arthur remained in the trial for two years and within the first few months, the size of the tumor had shrunk by 80 percent.
For the next two years on this medication, Arthur was completely stable.
Arthur is pictured with his father, Henry, on Buckden Pike in the Yorkshire Dales.
Arthur Middleton, from Lincolnshire, has battled brain tumors all his life. Above: Climbing Pen-y-Ghent in the Yorkshire Dales
Henry is pictured with his son, Arthur, who was born prematurely at 26 weeks.
The family said it was their “worst nightmare” to be told their son had a brain tumor.
But after the trial ended, he had to stop the medication and the tumor began to grow again.
Claire said that after a difficult time, the family was able to access this medication when they returned to the UK in early 2022.
“He’s still taking it and has been stable for five years and takes it every day,” Claire said.
‘He goes to school and his immune system is not compromised or anything like that. We are very fortunate right now to be in a place of stability.
‘Now that we have learned more about this, we feel that we are one of the lucky ones who were diagnosed with a low grade.
“Although it was very large when they found it and had long-term health implications, we’re lucky it’s low grade.”
“His journey with the brain tumor has been very difficult and is still ongoing, I think we are under no illusions that we are one of the lucky ones.”
Nine-year-old Arthur is pictured with a ladybug on his cheek while doing one of his climbs.
Claire, 41, accompanies her son on his walks to raise money for charities.
Claire said the initial MRI showed she had a brain tumor the size of a golf ball when she was just two years old.
Arthur is shown walking the family dog and regularly updates his Instagram to take his followers on his journey.
Now, Arthur is raising money for The Brain Tumor Charity by scaling the height of Mount Everest, a whopping 8,849m.
Although he has been left with a weakness on one side of his body, that has not stopped him from achieving his goal of raising awareness about brain tumors.
‘(I’m) honestly very proud. He’s been talking about doing this for a while and we were worried that he wouldn’t physically be able to do it because it’s still a challenge.
“But we were talking about New Year’s resolutions with the family and he said, ‘I’m going to climb the mountain to raise money.’
‘As a mother, what is amazing is to see her sense of pride and achievement in what she is doing. She has academic difficulties in school and in sports.
“He’s not going to be the captain of the team, but this is his thing and he’s very proud of himself.”
Arthur had to learn to walk again after suffering his first brain tumor
The nine-year-old is pictured climbing Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales.
Arthur smiles as he sits on top of Thorpe Cloud in the Peak District
“He is finding it difficult because at the moment we are climbing in quite difficult weather conditions, but he is determined and does not give up.”
Arthur has spent his free time climbing various mountains including Whernside, Buckden Pike and Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales and Thorpe Cloud in the Peak District.
Claire said her son also went outdoors and climbed when Storm Isha hit the UK.
“I think it was quite a challenge for him and he was talking about how it was windy and raining at the top.
‘I think he found it quite scary. But when he got down he felt very proud of himself for doing it and now he’s proud to tell everyone that he climbed that (during) Storm Isha.’
It has currently reached 2,500m with around 6,349m to go and has so far raised almost £6,000 for the charity.
Claire says she likes to periodically update her instagram page about your progress.
Arthur usually climbs mountains with members of his family, but since then some classmates from his school have wanted to accompany him on his trip.
Their school also held a fundraising day where students and teachers wore hats and donated to their cause.
Claire and Henry are going up in April with some of Arthur’s teachers and friends.
To donate to Arthur’s page, Click here.