Brain tumour found after Cardiff boy, 4, visits opticians

A four-year-old boy was taken to the opticians when his eye started to flicker – only for his parents to be told he had developed a brain tumour.

Rome Hill’s family said they had no idea he was blind in his problem right eye because he didn’t show any signs of having problems with his sight.

The little boy a six-hour-long operation on 20 June where he had part of the tumour removed.

“We couldn’t believe it. You always hear about it on the news or on TV – but you never think it would be your family,” said Rome’s dad, Perry Hill, 33, from Cardiff.

He said he took his son to the opticians after he and his partner Katie Hayes, 30, noticed Rome’s eye started to flicker involuntarily in April.

“I was looking at his eye while he was watching TV and I noticed it flicker up and down,” Mr Hill said.

“I mentioned it to Katie and we first thought it was an involuntary thing. But we decided to get it checked out.”

The couple took Rome to the optician’s where they were told that he had “quite low vision”.

It was only when a consultant spoke to the family that they found out that Rome was blind in his right eye.

“We couldn’t believe it. Rome has never shown any indication that he had issues with his eyesight,” Mr Hill said.

“He has no issues with balance or coordination. I play rugby and when I’m on the pitch waving at him, he can see me and waves back.”

Rome was sent for a MRI scan and a few weeks later, the family were called into an appointment with the consultant.

“We were taken into this room with comfy chairs and we then wondered ‘what are they going to tell us?’ We were really anxious,” his dad said.

The consultant told the couple that Rome had a brain tumour sitting on a fluid pocket close to a gland at the base of his brain.

Rome’s six-hour-long surgery saw part of the tumour removed due to where it was positioned.

“On the day of the operation, I paced the whole house. It was agonising. When he came out of theatre and we were told the operation was a success, it was such as relief,” Mr Hill said.

“The main thing that we wanted was to get our boy back home. He has been so brave throughout everything he has gone through,” he added.

The family were told that the tumour was called a low-grade glioma and was non-cancerous. Rome will now undergo chemotherapy to shrink the remaining part of the tumour.

He will also have tests to determine whether the shrinking of the tumour will mean that the vision in his right eye improves over time.

Mr Hill said: “We were over the moon to find out it was benign. It has all gone in so quick and everything is still so raw.

“But we wanted to raise awareness of our story and the great work that the team in Noah’s Ark do.”

Mr Hill has now set up a fundraising page and challenged himself to run 10k to raise money for Noah’s Ark.

“It’s a 10k for 10k. We want to raise as much money as we can for the team as a thank you taking care of our boy,”

“We also want to show our appreciation to the doctors, nurses and all healthcare professionals on the ward,” he said.