The parents of a six-year-old boy have voiced their fears that 10 tumours caused by a rare condition.
Noah Mitchell has rare PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome – which causes non-cancerous growths, the Daily Record reports.
He was diagnosed when he was just three years old.
The syndrome affects about one in 200,000 people – but none of his sisters Ellie, 12, Georgie-Grace, five, and Elizabeth, three, have it.
Neither of his parents Liza, 36, and youth worker Craig, 41, are carriers.
Liza said: "Currently we are managing 10 lumps and are in contact with a dermatologist.
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"So long as they are not growing, they will not be removed. He has them on his tummy, underarm, neck and back.
"The one under his arm gives him some discomfort but they won’t remove it unless it is a dire emergency.
“In America, as soon as someone is diagnosed they are under the care of cancer experts and geneticists straight away but here Noah just gets checked by dermatologists until he is 16.
“If they see anything, he will get referred but when he turns 16 he will get yearly cancer checks.”
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Breast, thyroid, kidney, uterus, colorectal and skin cancer are all more likely for those with the condition from an early age.
But Liza said in addition to the lumps, many PTEN children have autism.
And Noah is being overtaken in his learning by little sister Georgie-Grace.
But because the particular kind of autism associated with PTEN does not manifest itself in the usual way, the family have been struggling to get a diagnosis and, as a result, he has not been able to access the help which exists for autistic children.
Liza said: “In this country autistic testing isn’t done very quickly at all. He was put on a ‘pathway’ a year ago but that could take two to three years.
“We are trying to raise money to have him assessed privately because Noah is almost at the end of primary two and we are concerned how far into school he will be before he gets the assessment he needs on the NHS.”
● The family are trying to raise £1,850. To donate, visit here.
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