Teddy Sloman was just three when he suddenly stopped eating and drinking in June 2025. He then started vomiting and sleeping excessively. His parents, Sarah and Kramer, initially attributed the symptoms to teething or the warm weather.
When taken to the GP and a paediatric hospital, his symptoms were dismissed as constipation. Sarah began massaging his stomach to relieve the presumed constipation. During one massage, she felt a worrying lump and rushed him back to hospital, where he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma.
Aggressive tumour discovered
"During a baby massage I felt a mass in his stomach. They just told me it was a bit of poop that was stuck and to carry on with the massages," Sarah said. "Unbeknownst to me, the mass inside his stomach was actually a very nasty and very aggressive tumour."
"Then they gave us the earth-shattering news that Teddy had cancer," she continued. "It was a really scary time for us. It just felt so surreal that those words were being said to me."
Teddy, from Griffithstown, was transferred to hospital for further scans. The tumour filled his entire abdomen, pressing on his organs and making it difficult to eat or breathe. The cancer had spread to his bone marrow.
Treatment and complications
Teddy is beginning to recover but cannot keep food down at the sight of it and relies on tube feeding. He faces a high risk of relapse, with survival rates devastatingly low for children who relapse. An American-produced maintenance drug called Difluoromethylornithine, which helps ward off relapse, was unexpectedly withdrawn from the NHS.
Sarah explored private access to the treatment and was quoted £250,000. She said: "There are shockingly horrendous figures around the type of cancer that we are dealing with. To know that there is a type of drug out there that is the best chance we have to beat this very horrendous disease we need to try and get it."
Fundraising efforts
The family started a GoFundMe page that has raised over £61,000. Sarah said: "He is the biggest social butterfly that you will come across. His strength and resilience has been the only thing getting us through."
Both parents have been living at Noah's Ark Children's Hospital in Cardiff, taking turns so Teddy is never alone while the other cares for their newborn Joey. Teddy underwent chemotherapy from July to September 2025, followed by major surgery at Birmingham Children's Hospital in October.
He suffered complications including pneumocystis pneumonia and mucositis. Immunotherapy began on his third birthday in April but caused screaming pain and eyesight problems, forcing doctors to halt treatment. Sarah said: "The senior hospital staff said it was the worst reaction to immunotherapy they had seen in over 20 years."
What is neuroblastoma?
Cancer Research UK states that neuroblastoma is a rare cancer affecting children, mostly under five. Around 100 children aged 0–14 are diagnosed each year in the UK. It starts in nerve cells called neuroblasts. The most common symptom is a lump in the abdomen, which can cause swelling, discomfort, or constipation. The cause is unknown, though rare cases have a family history.
