He didn’t have any symptoms apart from blurred vision and headaches which his parents thought were caused by eye strain
A five-year-old boy visited the optician to get stronger glasses after getting “fuzzy eyes” in his first few weeks at school only to discover he had an aggressive brain tumour. Teddy Hemms, five, seemed perfectly healthy when he went to Specsavers to get new glasses.
But the eye test revealed nerves at the back of his eye were inflamed – which was later revealed to be caused by a grade four medulloblastoma, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. An MRI scan before surgery revealed Teddy, who had only just started school, identified multiple growths on the outside of the lining to his brain.
The surgery revealed a multiple tumours on his spine too, showing the cancer had already spread beyond his brain. Without treatment, Teddy’s family were told the youngster would have just six to twelve weeks to live.
He had radiation and several rounds of chemotherapy, and major surgeries left him unable to walk and severely unwell. Teddy is now on a new, more intensive course of chemotherapy, which might leave him with hearing loss, in a last ditch attempt to treat the cancer, before palliative care.
Doting mum Cindy Hemms, 40, said: “He had no symptoms but a little bit of blurred vision and some headaches we thought were caused by eye strain. It’s been so hard for Teddy, because he is so active. He wanted to get running around dancing again, and he became withdrawn.
“He is now on high-risk chemotherapy – it has made him really poorly, and could give him permanent hearing loss. But we need to be aggressive because if he relapses there will be no further treatment available. But if there is any chance at all for him, we have to take it. We’re taking things one day at a time.”
Teddy’s dad, Ian Hemms, 45, who works in intelligence in the RAF, added: “When we got the diagnosis, I couldn’t believe it, I went into a state of shock. As a parent, it’s extremely tough because there’s nothing you can do. You feel extremely helpless, watching him fight something that feels impossible to beat.”
Teddy, from Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, went for his eye test on September 29, three weeks after starting school. He was referred to Peterborough City Hospital for scans, and given a new pair of glasses.
But the following day, his parents got a call asking them to bring Teddy back for urgent CT and MRI scans. He was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, where it was revealed he needed surgery to remove a mass behind his eye.
A week later, when he went under the knife, his family were shocked to learn they had found several more masses on his spine and the lining of his brain, and biopsies confirmed they were cancerous. Cindy, an events manager, said: “Clinically, he was completely stable, running around the ward, everyone told us he didn’t look sick.
“We thought it would be benign, because he was so well. But then we started getting oncologists coming to talk to us, and we knew what that meant.”
Teddy was diagnosed with a grade four medulloblastoma, with MYC amplification large cell anaplastic – requiring urgent treatment as it was aggressive and likely to spread. Before the surgery, the family got the devastating news from an MRI scan that Teddy had multiple growths on the outside lining of his brain, and multiple tumours on his spine.
The primary tumour in his brain was removed for analysis during the surgery. Cindy, who has given up work to be Teddy’s full-time carer, said: “They told us without treatment, he wouldn’t live past six to 12 weeks.
“It was a complete shock and I didn’t deal with it well – every time I looked at him, I thought I’d lose him.” He had whole spinal and brain radiation before several rounds of chemotherapy in October 2025. A second tumour on the end of the brain stem and one small tumour inside the left back part of his brain were discovered on a follow up MRI conducted between his first and second round of chemotherapy.
Little Teddy ended up needing an emergency brain shunt in November, when he took a turn for the worst and it was discovered his brain ventricles had filled with fluid. Teddy recovered quickly, but the surgery affected his balance, and he lost the ability to walk or sit up properly.
Cindy said: “He was so withdrawn because he couldn’t be active. He didn’t want to sit on the floor to play, or be in a wheelchair. When we got him home, he would commando crawl across the floor and started pulling himself up on furniture. When he took his first steps again, we were crying and clapping like he was a baby doing it for the first time. Soon the baby steps went to wanting to dance with his stepdad with music on. He couldn’t walk properly yet, so he’d say, ‘hold me, lift me up and make my legs dance’.”
Once he recovered from the surgery, he began radiation at University College London Hospital, five days a week for six weeks. Cindy and stepdad Liam stayed in funded accommodation nearby, but had to cover food, transport and bedding with their savings, and Ian also spent some time in London with Teddy throughout his radiation. Teddy then had a break from treatment in February and early March, before starting a final four month course of aggressive chemotherapy, which he has so far had one round of – scheduled at the start of his treatment after his initial diagnosis.
Cindy said: “It has been brutal. “It’s made him really poorly but there is no further treatment available for him. It’s a real worry that you might put your child through all this pain, knowing they might relapse in a few months anyway. He will have the chemotherapy until August, providing there are no setbacks. Cindy said so far, his scans are showing significant reduction in the metastases in his spine, but Teddy still has two tumours in his brain which haven’t grown or shrunk.
She said: “Looking to the future wasn’t getting anyone through the days – so we take things one day at a time. We don’t know if he’ll get through this, but we’re staying positive for him.” Cindy and Liam, a fabricator, are now fundraising to cover the costs to support Teddy’s treatment. A
fter Cindy gave up work to care for him, and Liam had to drop to part-time hours to help, the family have burned through their £8,000 of savings getting to and from hospital. Fundraiser can be found here.
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