West Lothian toddler diagnosed with rare cancer after dad noticed change to his eye

The West Lothian dad of a brave young tot who lost his eye after a lethal tumour has praised the NHS team who helped save his son's life.

Kyle Mackay and his partner Chloe Collin's have said that their 'lives stopped after they were given the devastating news that their son Caleb Mackay had a cancerous tumour behind his left eye, just weeks after birth, reports The Record.

Caleb, who is now two-years-old, was born in August 2021 alongside his twin brother. However, just eight weeks after his birth, the worried parents knew that something wasn't right when they saw that Caleb's eye was drooping. The family who are from East Calder, West Lothian, rushed their young son into an Edinburgh eye specialist before he was admitted to the Royal Hospital for Children.

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Medics took a biopsy behind Caleb’s eye and discovered a malignant rhabdoid tumour, which was was growing at a rapid rate. The doctors tried to blast the tumour with chemotherapy but were forced to take drastic action and surgically remove Caleb's left eye and everything surrounding it.

The young boy remained in hospital and was then given the all-clear after his treatment ended. His dad, Kyle, is now hoping that he can given something back to the hero NHS team known as the 'Play Team', who supported his family during the worrying time.

Kyle, 23, said: “Having our twins – Caleb and Carter – in August 2021 was the most precious thing ever but also very scary and a huge adjustment.

“Then, when Caleb turned eight weeks old, everything fell apart. We noticed Caleb’s left eye was drooping in comparison to his right. We just knew something wasn’t right. After seeing the doctor, we were referred to the Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh.

“Nobody knew what was going on so it took three or four visits before we were referred to the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.

“The decision was made to take a biopsy of what was going on behind Caleb’s eye. We had a dreadful four day wait, then the results showed it was in fact cancerous.

“Caleb was diagnosed with a malignant rhabdoid tumour behind his left eye socket, and it was growing rapidly.

“The news brought our lives to a complete stop. It absolutely broke us. As a parent, you must stay strong for your kids, but this was on a different level. There were arguments, tears and sometimes thoughts of totally giving up.

“The initial plan was for Caleb to have intense chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumour and then surgery to remove anything left over but this didn’t go to plan. The tumour was too aggressive and the chemotherapy wasn’t working.

“Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks of hospital stays, the decision was made to remove Caleb’s left eye and everything surrounding.”

Caleb had the major operation at just 10 weeks, with a following 10 gruelling rounds of chemotherapy. Kyle and his partner were in and out of the hospital every week for two to three days at a time.

He has now praised the team who went 'above and beyond' by singing the sick tot songs, playing with him and making him "comfortable as possible".

Kyle said: “When things were extremely tough, they would come in and sit with Caleb to give us a little break. It didn’t matter what time of the day it was.

“There were times we would drive half an hour back to our home to grab some more clothes without having to worry about Caleb as we knew he was in good hands.”

“In general, the full RHCYP team did an exceptional job and took a massive weight off our shoulders.

“They helped us to have lots of happy times, despite what we were going through, and were always there for a shoulder to cry on when needed.”

Caleb who also has an older brother Kayden, five, is now the "happiest little guy ever," as his family look to raise funds for the hospital charity's Play Appeal.

He added: “The journey we’ve been on has been an incredibly challenging one and it’s far from over, but we still have our boy.

"He’s the happiest little guy ever and if I can take one positive out of all of this it’s that it brought our family closer together and made us realise how strong we are.

“We want to say a massive thank you to each and every member of the hospital team for everything they did for Caleb, and our whole family.”

You can donate to the appeal here.