Mom Recalls Telling 13-Year-Old Son He Won't Survive Brain Cancer Battle: 'I Had To Tell Him'

A mom in England had to tell her "adventurous" teenage son that he was not going to survive his battle with cancer and only had up to a year left to live.

The mom, identified as Ruth Chappin, began noticing that her son, 13-year-old Arnold Chappin, was losing his balance, falling over and limping at the beginning of June, Manchester Evening News reported.

As Arnold, fondly called Arnie by his loved ones, is an "adventurous and clumsy" young boy, his parents initially thought that their child's issues were not a major problem.

But when the boy started to struggle with putting on his socks and using his left hand, his parents became concerned and immediately brought him to the hospital to get checked.

Arnold was taken for neurological tests and an MRI scan, which revealed that he had a left-sided weakness and was uncoordinated and that his reflexes were not responding as they should. When further tests were conducted at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, they found out that Arnold had a "large mass" on his brain.

On June 14, Arnold's parents were told that he had Brain Stem Glioma, a type of aggressive tumor, and that he only had between six months and a year left to live.

"When we saw the consultant, I knew straight away it was going to be bad news because of the way he was. Then they told us there is nothing they can do, it is a really aggressive tumor and that there is no cure," Ruth said.

"We couldn't believe it. We were shocked and just completely devastated. They told us if he didn't have radiation he has six to nine months to live, but with radiation treatment, he could live for up to a year," she added.

When Arnold's parents told him that he had cancer, Ruth said that her son began asking a lot of questions.

"He kept saying, 'Am I going to lose my hair?' and 'Am I going to be okay?' At the beginning, we could reassure him because we weren't expecting it to be so devastating. As a parent, you are grasping onto any kind of hope," Ruth recalled.

But it was when Arnold asked if he is going to survive that Ruth realized she couldn't give her son false hope. She and her husband Brett ultimately decided to tell him about the reality of his condition.

"I was lying in the hospital bed early in the morning last Friday, and [Arnold] asked me, 'Am I going to survive mum?' I knew I had to tell him the truth. I looked at him and said, 'No, you're not,' and he just broke down crying," Ruth said. "I told him he wouldn't be on his own and we would be with him every step of the way."

She said that their family, who is now living in Bedfordshire, is looking to relocate back to Manchester to be with their loved ones and create final happy memories with Arnold.

"He is so courageous. I feel like he has taught me how to live life to the fullest. He's so positive and full of energy and enthusiasm for life," Ruth said.

Ruth's brother set up a GoFundMe to help raise funds for the family to move and to give Arnold the chance to experience things he has always dreamed of.

"I want to be able to let him experience as many things as he can, but I don't know how fast he's going to deteriorate," Ruth said. "We want to make sure this is the best year of his life, surrounded by family."