Generous Cancer Warrior, 19, Donates His Savings and Raises $59K to Help A 9-Year-Old Cancer Fighter as His Last Wish

“Rhys found the story of little Jacob. He called me upstairs and he was crying in bed reading the story,” Langford’s mother said. “He said, ‘Mum, I want to donate some money to him. He’s six years of age and he’s been ill since he was two. I’d be over the moon if someone would save him.’ I couldn’t believe he was thinking about someone else when he’s on death’s door himself.”

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Langford used to work as a laborer for a water supplier before he grew ill. So, he donated £1,000, which converts to $1,300, of his savings to help cover the cost of Jones’ treatment. But he did not stop there. He also set up a GoFundMe page for Jones that’s already raised over $59,000 to help Jones.

“Although our hearts are breaking because our son is dying, our hearts are bursting with pride,” Langford’s mother said.

And Jones’ family is overwhelmingly grateful for the kindness and generosity that Langford has shown.

“Here is a young man who has not long to live and yet he read Jacob’s story and wanted to help him,” Jones’ father 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.”

Langford’s Cancer Journey

It’s been a long, hard road for Langford, but somehow he still has so much love and light he wants to share with others. His first sign of cancer came when Langford was sprinting with his friends and fell after losing his balance. Initially, his parents thought he had strained his groin, but they knew something was very wrong when he was still limping eight weeks later.

He went through various tests, and doctors eventually diagnosed him with a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma in October 2020 after finding a 7 inch tumor in his right hip.

“Your world breaks down when you hear that word ‘cancer,'” Landford’s father said. “I can remember Rhys saying, ‘Dad it’s only cancer, I’ll be alright Dad, I’ll be fine.'”

Langford then underwent a series of blood transfusions and intensive chemotherapy, and the treatments look a huge toll on the young boy.

“The strength of the chemo he was on made him really sick,” his mother said. “He couldn’t keep anything down. His immune system was completely wiped out. He lost his hair.”

After 10 weeks of chemotherapy, Langford had surgery to remove all of the bone from his kneecap to his right hip. Post-surgery, he still had 20 weeks of chemo to go.

“He had a lot of emotions,” his father said. “He would be in the bed playing on his computer while all his mates were in cars and playing football. He couldn’t go on holiday with the boys, which was something he never got the chance to do. He couldn’t run around the beach.

“He had all these ambitions. We always kept him motivated. We told him, ‘You’re still here. You’re not dead, you’ve got your life.'”

After finishing treatment last August, Langford was hopeful he had beaten the disease. But in a devastating turn of events, his right leg began to aggressively swell and doctors found a cancerous mass in his thigh. On January 4 of this year, doctors told the family there wasn’t much else they could do.

“There were three different surgeons waiting for us,” his father 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. There’s nothing more we can do to save his life.’

“As a parent, if someone gives you a one per cent chance of life you thrive on it. But there was nothing they could do.”

Very understandably so, Langford grew very angry and went to a dark place for a bit. But, as of late, Langford has been able to find some light with counseling from a reverend that visits the family’s home.

“He seems to find faith when the reverend comes to the house,” his father said. “The reverend will read passages from the Bible at his bedside, and he’ll be engrossed. He’ll read a lot of passages about healing and the afterlife.”

And most recently, the thing that’s kept Langford going is his desire to help little Jones.

“Rhys has always been a very caring and selfless boy, always thinking of others,” Langford’s father said. “After the absolute hell he’s been through, to do this for a little boy I’m so proud of him.”

Understanding Sarcomas

The term sarcoma is used to describe an array of more than 70 rare cancers that begin in the bones and the soft tissues, such as muscles. This diverse group of diseases accounts for only about one percent of tumors in adults and just over 10 percent of tumors in children.

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The main symptom of sarcomas is generally a slow-growing, painless mass, but symptoms can be hard to detect as soft tissue sarcomas are typically painless and bone sarcomas can be mistakenly diagnosed as orthopedic injuries.

"Unfortunately, most sarcomas do not cause many of the symptoms that may be associated with other cancers," Dr. Dale Shepard, director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute Phase I and Sarcoma Programs, tells SurvivorNet. "A mass the size of a golf ball or larger and growing should be evaluated as a potential sarcoma. It's important that patients who do have symptoms are not dismissive of them."

Types of Sarcoma Cancers

The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers, and individual cancers within that set go by unique names. Some of the types of sarcomas include:

• Ewing's sarcoma is a cancer that typically occurs in and around the bones, often in the arms or legs, or the bones of the pelvis. It most commonly occurs in children and young adults.
• Kaposi sarcoma is a very rare type of cancer that causes lesions on the skin, in lymph nodes, organs, and the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and throat. It typically affects people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV.
• Epithelioid sarcoma is a type of soft tissue cancer that grows slowly. It is likely to begin under the skin of areas like the finger, hand, forearm, lower part of the leg, or foot.
• Synovial sarcoma, also called malignant synovioma, is a cancer that can form soft tissues such as muscle or ligaments, commonly close to joints or in areas like the arm, leg, or foot.
• Osteogenic sarcoma, also called osteosarcoma, is the most common type of cancer that starts in the bones. This is the type of cancer Langford has.
• Spindle cell sarcoma is very rare, comprising as little as 2 percent of all primary bone cancer cases. It can start in the bone, often in the arms, legs, and pelvis, and usually occurs in people over 40.

Finding Light in Dark Times

It's very normal to have negative feelings throughout your cancer journey and it's more than okay to express them too. Anger, shame, fear and anxiety are all to be expected. But we’ve seen time and time again that so many cancer warriors rise up to find light and faith despite going through so much hardship.

After Getting Through the Darkest Stages of Cancer, Melissa Berry Decided to Pay it Forward

Take Danielle Ripley-Burgess, for example. She’s a two-time colon cancer survivor who was first diagnosed with colon cancer in high school and proceeded to beat the disease not once, but twice. Understandably so, Ripley-Burgess has had to work through a lot of emotions that came with her cancer and its recurrence. Even still, she's always managed to look at life with a positive attitude.

"As I've worked through the complex emotions of cancer, I've uncovered some beautiful things: Wisdom. Love. Life purpose. Priorities," she previously told SurvivorNet. "I carry a very real sense that life is short, and I'm grateful to be living it! This has made me optimistic. Optimism doesn't mean that fear, pain and division don't exist they do. Our world is full of negativity, judgment, and hate. Optimism means that I believe there's always good to be found despite the bad, and this is what my life is centered around."

How to Cope When Recurrence Rattles Your Faith At The Age of 25Two-Time Colon Cancer Survivor Danielle Ripley-Burgess Shares Her Story

She moves through life with a sense of purpose unique to someone who's been faced with the darkest of times. Happily in remission today, she's determined to, one day, leave the world better than she found it.

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"We can choose to stay positive, treat others with respect and look for the light in spite of the darkness," she said. "This type of attitude and behavior will lead to the kind of legacies I believe all of us hope to leave."

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