A little boy with a rare cancer for whom Mail readers helped raise half a million pounds has had a lifesaving quadruple transplant, this paper can reveal.
Ralph Tatham, five, received a new liver, big and small bowel, stomach and pancreas from another child last year after eight months at the top of the UK waiting list.
However, he is still at serious risk as the cancer has twice recurred in his lungs, requiring further surgery.
‘When I got the call to say the organs were available, I was speechless and had to pass the telephone to my husband,’ reveals his mother Katie, 36, from Chingford, London.
‘I can’t put into words what it was like handing him over to surgeons, not knowing if we’d ever see him again. The operation was done overnight and kissing him the next morning when he woke up was one of the greatest joys of my life.
‘Words simply cannot describe the gratitude we feel to Ralph’s donor family for giving him a second chance.’
The Mail on Sunday brought Ralph’s plight to national attention at Christmas 2023. Donations then poured in to a GoFundMe account launched by Katie and her husband Graham, also 36.
With time running out to find a donor, the couple were desperate to raise enough money to take their son to America where paediatric transplants are more common.
The ‘miracle’ call from his NHS medical team came in January 2024 just as the family was starting to make arrangements to fly him across the Atlantic.
Ralph Tatham (left) received a new liver, big and small bowel, stomach and pancreas from another child last year after eight months at the top of the UK waiting list; his mother Katie (right) has said she ‘cannot describe her gratitude’ to Ralph’s donor family
Ralph was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma when he was three and has endured more than a dozen rounds of chemotherapy
The Mail on Sunday brought Ralph’s plight to national attention at Christmas 2023 and donations poured in to a GoFundMe account launched by his parents
Four and half months later, Ralph was released from hospital and allowed home.
Today he is enjoying home schooling – his immune system is too compromised for him to attend his local primary – and loves playing in the garden with his younger brother Albie, 20 months.
‘He’s an inspiration,’ says Katie.
‘A gorgeous little boy who enjoys a hot chocolate in the sunshine and chasing a ball about. We are so grateful to everyone who donated to his fund and who is supporting paediatric organ donation, which remains worryingly low in Britain.
’Ralph was one of the lucky ones but there are more than 250 other children still on the waiting list.’
Now however the family is facing a new challenge – caring for Ralph during his ongoing health struggles. The cancer in his lungs could return at any moment and he has battled serious complications as a result of the donor organs attacking his body.
Katie and Graham have not touched a penny of Ralph’s £555,000 fund, which remains in his GoFundMe account.
But the fundraising platform cannot host the huge sum indefinitely and has asked the couple to make longer-term arrangements. As a result, they are planning to create a new trust to cover Ralph’s continuing medical needs.
Katie and Graham (second from left) have not touched a penny of Ralph’s £555,000 fund, which remains in his GoFundMe account
Katie said: ‘Most of this amazing total was raised by strangers and we want to be completely transparent and fair in the face of their humbling generosity.
‘Ralph did not end up going to America for his transplant, although he does desperately need ongoing medical support and we don’t know what that is going entail.
‘As part of our transition plan, we will therefore provide the option for donations to be fully transitioned over to the new fund, partially returned or fully refunded.
‘We will be putting this money aside solely for spending on Ralph’s future treatment.
‘If he does not need all of it, or if the worst happens, then any remaining funds will go to related causes, something that reflects everything our brave boy has been through.’
The cancer in Ralph’s lungs could return at any moment and he has battled serious complications as a result of the donor organs attacking his body
Ralph was diagnosed with a curable liver cancer, a hepatoblastoma, when he was just three. During his long wait for suitable organs he endured more than a dozen rounds of chemotherapy and even now, post-transplant, he visits hospital most weeks.
It is not known what future treatment options he may have on the NHS if his disease progresses, or if his transplant were to fail. He may yet need a re-transplant in America, or the family might have to consider experimental US or European treatments not available in the UK.
‘We hope people will want to continue supporting his journey,’ said Katie.
‘Sadly, our son is far from out of the woods but we want everyone to be clear about their options. Whatever they choose we will always be thankful for the care they’ve shown him.
‘Given Ralph’s medical situation we live a very isolated life, all that contact, those messages, they kept us going, and even though a fairytale ending is not yet in sight, we won’t stop fighting for him.’
To become an organ donor, visit organdonation.nhs.uk