Paddock tot still smiling in the face of rare cancer

May 8 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

LITTLE Ruddi Waterworth-Jones is facing his second operation in a week following complications with his treatment for a rare cancer.

The nine-month-old is in St James’s Hospital in Leeds as he battles rhabdomysarcoma, a form of soft tissue cancer that affects only 60 children a year in the UK.

He needed treatment last week after he picked up an infection through his Hickman line – the intravenous catheter used to administer chemotherapy and take blood.

Doctors will operate again tomorrow in a bid to make sure he is all right before he begins his second bout of chemotherapy on Friday.

Mum Ali Jones, who turns 38 tomorrow, has been at Ruddi’s bedside continuously since he was admitted to hospital eight weeks ago.

She said: “He’s still smiling, bless him.

“He’s such a good little boy and he’s still happy in himself.”

As reported last month Ruddi, of Lowergate, Paddock, was perfectly healthy before he started to experience problems going to the toilet when he was seven months old.

His GP treated him for constipation, teething problems and even asthma before Ali, who works for Cedar Court Hotel, decided to take him to hospital.