A terminally ill teen with only months to live has donated 1,000 pounds (approx. US$1,350) from his savings to a 6-year-old cancer-stricken boy whom he has never met. In addition to that, he has also helped raise a further 59,000 pounds (approx. US$80,000) for him.
Rhys Langford, 19, was diagnosed in October 2020 with osteosarcoma—a type of bone cancer that begins in the cells that form bones but, over time, spreads to several other areas of the body.
The ailing teen became aware of 6-year-old Jacob Jones’s condition after reading his story and realized that they both were in the same town of Ebbw Vale, South Wales, England. Jacob had gone through grueling treatment to rid him of a rare cancer called neuroblastoma, but doctors believe it has now returned.
“Rhys found the story of little Jacob online and he called me upstairs to show me,” Rhys’s mother, Catherine Langford, 38, said. “He said ‘I want to donate some money to him, it would be incredible if someone would save him.’”
Catherine was at a loss for words, knowing that her son thought about someone else when he himself was near death’s door.
“Although our hearts are breaking because our son is dying, at the same time, they are bursting with pride,” Catherine said.
Rhys, who worked as a laborer for a water supplier before falling ill, immediately decided to donate 1,000 pounds in savings for Jacob’s treatment.
Rhys was a talented athlete before his battle with cancer left him bedridden.
At the age of 16, Rhys had become one of the youngest people in the UK to achieve a black belt in martial art, Krav Maga, at adult grading.
He’s also scaled Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, three times, and had dreamed of one day going up Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland and the UK.
Rhys’s first sign of a health problem began to show when he had a sprint race with friends, lost his balance, and fell.
Catherine and her husband, Paul, 45 thought that Rhys had a groin strain. However, after he was found limping eight weeks later, they grew concerned.
Although, even after this, Rhys continued working, he reached a point where he was even struggling to get out of a lorry. In October 2020, after several tests, Rhys and his family received the shocking diagnosis.
Experts at Birmingham’s Royal Orthopaedic Hospital found an 18-centimeter (7-inch) tumor in his right hip.
“Your world breaks down when you hear that word ‘cancer,’” Paul said. “I can remember Rhys saying, ‘Dad, it’s only cancer, I’ll be alright Dad, I‘ll be fine’—he has been so brave throughout everything.”
Consultants informed Rhys’s parents that his survival rate was about 50/50.
“We knew he would be severely disabled but we always thought he would beat it,” Paul said. “When the severity of the illness dawned upon Rhys, he started to question what he'd done wrong in life and why this was happening to him.”
Rhys suddenly realized that he'd never kick a ball again or drive a car, and that hit him pretty hard.
He then had a series of blood transfusions and went through intensive chemotherapy, quickly dropping 52 pounds (approx. 23.5 kg).
After 10 weeks of chemotherapy, Rhys stayed in the Royal Orthopaedic for three weeks for an operation to remove all the bone from his kneecap to his right hip.
This surgery meant that Rhys always needed two sticks to walk, but the family hoped it would save his life.
Up until August 2021, Rhys then underwent another 20 weeks of chemotherapy, which they initially thought had cured his cancer. During this time, Rhys tried to get his life back.
However, in October, a year after his diagnosis, Rhys’s right leg started to swell, growing three times its normal size. He spent almost a month in various hospitals, being treated for sepsis in the run-up to Christmas until, tragically, experts found a cancerous mass in his thigh.
Although consultants in Birmingham discussed the possibility of a full amputation of the leg, on Jan. 4, 2022, Rhys’s family was informed that he couldn’t be saved.
“There were three different surgeons waiting for us,” Paul said. “They said, ‘we need to be blunt with you. The cancer has returned and it’s not only in his thigh. It’s in his groin, his back, his lymphatic system, his lungs.’”
Unfortunately, there was nothing more they could do to save his life.
“As a parent, if someone gives you a 1 percent chance of life, you thrive on it—but there was nothing they could do,” Paul said.
On hearing this, Rhys was angry and was looking for someone to blame, as he felt that he had been lied to.
“He went through a dark stage, thinking there was nobody waiting on the other side for him,” Paul said.
The Langford family had never been religious, but they found the only source of comfort for Rhys was visits from Reverend Roy Watson, chaplain at the Hospice of the Valleys.
“He didn’t see any point in counseling, but he seems to find faith when the reverend comes to the house,” Paul said. “The reverend will read passages from the Bible about healing and the afterlife at his bedside and he'll be engrossed.”
Paul added that, despite all the suffering his son has been through, “Rhys has always been a very caring and selfless boy, always thinking of others.”
“After the absolute hell he’s been through, to do this for a little boy—words can’t describe how proud we are of him,” he said.
Jacob’s father, Alwyn, said words cannot express the Jones family’s gratitude for Rhys’s generosity.
“Here is a young man who has not long to live and yet he read Jacob’s story and wanted to help him,” Alwyn said. “He has said that he cannot be saved so he wanted to help save Jacob.
“What a wonderful, kind, compassionate young man. Our hearts go out to his family in this really difficult, sad time.”
