Charlie's £25k Tech Mex Hope

A boyB who touched the heart of TV stars is in Mexico for last-chance therapy that might save him.

- Amy Sharpe

Mum Toni Ilsley raised £25,000 to take son Charlie abroad – though doing so in the Covid-19 pandemic petrified her.

Charlie, 13, has battled medulloblastoma – the highest-grade brain tumour for children – since he was eight.

In January he was given months to live. Parents Toni and Mark, 52, are clinging to the hope that a three-week trial at the Williams’ Cancer Institute in Mexico City can offer a miracle cure.

He is midway through treatment led by Dr Jason Williams. It uses a protein in the body to attack tumorous cells.

Pharmacist technician Toni, 50, said from Mexico: “No one at such a young age should be going through what he’s had to endure. Learning the NHS could do no more almost destroyed us.