'Cheeky' schoolboy, 13, with 'earache' dies after hospital visit for treatment

07 August 2023 , 20:27

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Alfie Rafferty died of a brain tumour (Image: John Rafferty)

A "cheeky" boy who "loved playing football" has tragically died after his earache turned out to be terminal cancer.

Alfie Rafferty, from Huyton, Merseyside, was just 12, when he was taken to a walk-in centre and having banged his head weeks before, his family were advised to take him to hospital to be checked over. Dad John said they were told their son would need a shunt operation due to fluid on his brain.

But he then had an MRI scan and his family were told during Easter last year that Alfie was suffering from an aggressive brain tumour called DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma) which sadly, was terminal. John told how the diagnosis came "completely out of the blue" saying: "If he'd have gone in with headaches we'd have understood but he went in with an ear infection and it was all in one then."

For a week, Alfie stayed in Alder Hey hospital and underwent radiotherapy where he was said to be making improvements. With the help of the Owen McVeigh Foundation, they were able to go to Liverpool football matches and even on holiday to the Lake District.

But while on holiday in October, John said Alfie went downhill and they thought he had another ear infection. But an MRI scan soon showed the tumour had "grown way quicker" and sadly, on December 14, Alfie died at the age of 13.

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Paying tribute to their much loved son, the family told the Liverpool Echo: "He was our second-born and had that second-born attitude. He loved playing football with his mates and when that got taken away, that was the hardest. But he never complained. His best mates Ellie and Connor are lost, we all are. He was a cheeky little kid, always up to no good but in a good way. He had us wrapped around his finger."

In Alfie's memory, his family are in the process of creating the Alfie Rafferty Foundation in the hope of helping other families going through a similar experience. Anyone wishing to donate can do so here. John added: "We as a family want to help other kids like the help we got. We were able to go to a few LFC games because he loved Liverpool and it was about making memories.

"We got to do things that would've been harder for us to arrange and we want to give back because we know how hard it is. Alfie went from a kid who was never in, always playing out, to barely going out at all.

"We want to thank the charities that helped us and we want to be able to do that for others. Alfie never knew what was wrong with him, we decided not to tell him because how do you tell a 12-year-old that? But he was always asking why people were coming to visit him, we had a huge amount of support."

Aaliyah Rugg