Surgery for Rhys

So.... this is pretty difficult to write for some many reasons...
But I feel like I’ve exhausted all other reasonable options.

I am fundraising with my friends and family to raise money for my son Rhys..

Rhys will be 12 soon and for the last 3 years has been dealing with an upsetting situation, that I need to get sorted for him.

When Rhys was 8 years old.. he developed a lump in his chest just behind his nipple..  I completely freaked out and thought the worst..
After scans and blood tests it was confirmed to be benign - and most likely linked to a hormonal imbalance... Although he was deemed slightly young for that to be the case.
We were told to wait and it would settle..
18 months later - the situation had not settled and actually the lump had grown..
We went back to the doctors and I was essentially told that I was overreacting.. Wait some more and it will settle.. 
Another year later and the lump had grown alarmingly and was also causing Rhys some pain...
At this point I insisted on a referral to Alder Hey.
Rhys was reviewed by an Endocrinologist and at this point he was officially diagnosed with Gynaecomastia..
In real talk - He essentially had a boob!!  I’m sure that will raise many giggles but for Rhys it has been incredibly upsetting.. 

We were referred to see a plastic surgeon - he took one look at Rhys and immediately declared that he was “gutted” that Rhys was left to deal with this for so long.. In his opinion 8 years old was too young to have been considered normal for a hormonal problem like this..
He said he believed Rhys needed surgery and he would “do it today if I could.”
Sadly this has turned out to be a huge battle.. as the NHS guidelines deem this a “cosmetic” procedure and as such we cannot have this done on the NHS.
ALL the doctors we have seen at Alder Hey collectively contributed into an appeal case on our behalf.. we had medical images done and with the backing of 2 specialist.. had hoped we may have been able to overturn this decision..
To be clear this has destroyed my sons confidence and massively battered his mental health..
He has gone from a confident, sporty child.. to an unhappy, disinterested, self conscious boy... who has lost most of his interests in sports and socialising.
He won’t get changed in front of people, he panics about being anywhere overnight where he may have to.. He refused to take his top off when we go on holiday and is constantly adjusting his clothes because he is so aware of its visibility..
As a result he has terrible mood swings and I really do not want this to continue through his teenage years.. 
Rhys lost his sister (my daughter Luna) in 2015 and since then we have battled so hard with therapy to avoid him sinking into a depression and deal with his emotions.. this has sadly plunged him back into a bad place.. 

We have just received the news that our appeal has been rejected.. : (

So now my only is to go private.. We have been lucky to have had a telephone consultation with a surgeon today and we have a preliminary assessment arranged for next Friday 10th July.

Ive been given a guide price to the costs of this surgery and it’s in the region of £5,400.

sadly as a single mum, who recently lost my job and have replaced it with a much lower paid one.. I simply do not have the means to proceed with this at the moment..

as a family - We are thinking long and hard about what we could do to raise some money to help towards the cost of this operation for Rhys.. 

We will post details as soon as we have some things finalised.. His sisters want to do something dance related as they are all dancers and very keen to help.. 

it’s incredibly uncomfortable for me to ask for help in this way, but I simply can’t let my son deal with this any longer and need to get him sorted out.. 

I want to see my confident happy boy back but there just seems to be hurdles at every turn.. 

if anyone has any fundraising ideas or would like to make a donation.. that would be amazing.. 

Thank you for reading - for info Rhys is aware I am doing this.. he is not worried about people knowing (although sensitivity would obviously be appreciated as it is very hard for him.) he just wants it sorted.. He even said “I don’t care about being cut open I just want to look normal.”
I hope you can understand this is heartbreaking for a Mum to hear and watch.. : ( 

Further details on fundraising events to come in due course x 

Sophie, Mia, Ava-Nicole, April and most importantly Rhys xxx