Rhys Russell was diagnosed with cancer in 2021.
A teen kept his painless cancer symptom hidden before dying at the age of 18.
Rhys Russell succumbed to melanoma cancer in March of this year.
Just minutes before his death, he watched a cherished video of him meeting his favourite footballer, Jack Grealish.
The teenager’s final wish was to have his ashes scattered at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium memorial garden.
Facing financial difficulties, his family have set up a GoFundMe page to fulfil his request.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, his mother and step-father, Lauren and Oli, shared the heartbreaking story of Rhys’ shock diagnosis.
“It was really weird because he went to get in the shower and I don’t know if it was the light or whatever but we noticed like a red patch on his head.”
The patch was bleeding and there was no obvious cause for this.
Oli added: “Rhys told us, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve had that for ages, it bleeds sometimes but I’ve never said anything because it doesn’t hurt.’ We decided to go to the doctors to get it taken off – and it all kind of spiralled from there really.”
Lauren said his ‘thick curly hair’ made the patch almost impossible to spot.
‘It was only because of the bleeding at the time, otherwise we wouldn’t have known for god knows how long,” she explained.
Rhys was diagnosed with melanoma in November 2021, and was told it was stage four one year later.
He underwent targeted therapy and radiotherapy for three years, however in January things took a devastating turn.
“He was just in absolute agony and by that time he was on fentanyl patches.
“He was rolling around on the floor in agony and we took him to hospital. They did X-rays and CT scans and that is when they found it had spread to his liver, possibly one on his heart, one in his left lung, two in his right lung, and multiple all over his back.
“There were actually two halfway up his ribcage. It was just horrendous,” Lauren told The Mirror.
Rhys, who was a huge football fan, particularly of Manchester city, was able to meet Jack Grealish via Zoom thanks to the Make a Wish Foundation.
“Minutes before he died, he watched the Jack Grealish video again. And then he passed away,” said Oli.
When Rhys was told he only had weeks to live, Oli explained that he was ‘quite pragmatic’ and said ‘I want to be cremated and I want my ashes scattered at the memorial garden at Man City.’
“We said we would make it happen for him,” added his step-father.
“Because there are five of us, and we would be travelling to Manchester and staying and everything, we haven’t got the money to do it, especially after paying for the funeral and everything. A few people suggested a GoFundMe to help us get there,” he explained.
Finally, Oli pleaded with others to ‘just talk about it’.
“I think there is a big misconception that people think melanoma is something old leather handbag people get because of how you are in the sun constantly and that is not always the case. It can be a genetic thing as well.
“My wife is a community nurse and I am a student nurse and I think we are both taking this as to learn from it and take it forward and help people. If we can spread awareness to even one person, then it will save them hopefully going through what we have,” said the heartbroken step-father.
