'My boy is fighting the same cruel disease that took my 9yo son and husband'

Marie lost her 9yo son and husband to brain tumours - now her 5yo boy is battling the same condition.

Marie lost her 9yo son and husband to brain tumours - now her 5yo boy is battling the same condition.

Marie can't even begin to comprehend how much more unbearable heartache she can possibly endure in one lifetime.

"I wonder if I will ever become immune to the pain around me, but of course you don’t," the UK mum sadly admitted.

In nothing short of a fairytale romance, Marie and Ian met in a pub 19 years ago, moved in together after two months and married two years later.

The blissfully happy couple had always dreamed of settling down and having a family – and those dreams soon came true when they had three beautiful boys.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this

Marie lost her 9yo son and husband to brain tumours - now her 5yo boy is battling the same condition. Source: Caters

"My 9yo son and husband died from brain tumours - now my baby is fighting it"

However, their world came crashing down around them when their youngest son Oscar was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma brain tumour in 2013 after finding a mass on his brain while investigating why he was so exhausted.

Just nine months later, the nine-year-old boy tragically lost his life.

Trying to move on with their lives, the heartbroken couple had another son, Milo two years later.

However, their joy was short-lived when Milo was just three.

“One early February morning, I heard a big bump from upstairs with lots of noise and told the boys to stay on the sofa whilst I ran up,” Marie vividly recalled like it was yesterday.

"Ian was having a massive seizure so I called 999 straight away.

"He was rushed into hospital and scanned and they found a mass on his brain.  We were absolutely gutted.

"The two of us were in disbelief as not only had he survived a different type of cancer only three years before but the fact it was a brain tumour was just shocking.

"I remember sitting in the A&E unable to speak as I just had no words for him. We both had an immediate feeling of doom."

RELATED: The birthday present that sparked a child cancer diagnosis

Oscar died from medulloblastoma brain tumour at 9 years old after finding a mass on his brain while investigating why he was so exhausted. Source: Caters

"My three-year-old was diagnosed with multiple brain tumours"

The 49-year-old loving dad died from glioblastoma at a hospice leaving behind sons Sebastian, 17, Lucas, 11, and Milo.

But the excruciating heartache was far from over when even more gut-wrenching news was delivered just one month after Ian’s funeral.

Three-year-old Milo had multiple brain tumours.

"It is still heartbreaking, no matter how brave Milo is, to see him throw up, to have to hold him down as they put the dreaded wiggly line in," Marie said.

"The other night he turned to me and said 'I don’t want to die Mum' and I can’t promise anything, and help little because although he says 'it’s my body and you can’t do anything to it I don’t want' - we both know that really what needs to be done will be done.”

RELATED: Powerful image of a bath mat where a once perfect boy lay waiting for mummy

After losing her husband and 9yo son to brain tumours, her 5yo boy now fights the same battle. Source: Caters

"He has permanent loss of vision and full loss of hearing in one ear"

Milo, who never got to meet his older brother, Oscar, is now the third family member to be taking on a brain tumour with chemotherapy.

"Looking at Milo you’d think he was sailing through this apart from a few days which has seen him be sick every couple of hours day and night,” Marie said.

"Apart from loss of hair, he looks like a healthy active boy, but he has extensive permanent loss of vision and full loss of hearing in one ear.

"Halfway through the fourth round of chemo and he couldn't wait to get in the paddling pool again. He sang, danced and laughed on the way back from the hospital.

"He likes to keep completely in control and tell the nurses and doctors it is his body and they can’t do anything to his body until he is ready. He is wise beyond his years."

RELATED: Heartbreaking photos of girl’s cancer journey

"Halfway through the fourth round of chemo and he couldn't wait to get in the paddling pool again." Source: Caters

"My kids are resilient but cancer is relentless"

Marie can see the similarities between the two boys.

"Oscar died before Milo was born but it's not difficult to find the similarities between them,” she said.

"The strength that pulled Oscar through is what is also pulling Milo through.

“Oscar didn’t lose the fight because that would imply there was a fair fight to be had. Cancer is relentless.

"Oscar died but he had a great life and Milo is having a great life even through treatment and that’s where we are.

"I have stopped looking to the next scan and we just live now."

The 44-year-old mum said they worked hard to instil inner strength in all of their kids.

"I will always be grateful that I got to be loved by Ian and that my children had just him as a dad.

"All of the boys are incredibly resilient and I think Ian and I worked as such a great team together because we wanted the same - a family to love."

Originally published as 'My boy is fighting the same cruel disease that took my 9yo son and husband'