A BRITISH toddler battling a rare and aggressive cancer has been given a new lease of life after his family relocated from the UK to Spain to secure a pioneering new therapy.
Two-year-old Matias Valentin is currently under treatment in Valencia after his parents left London in 2024, desperate to find doctors willing to fight for their son.
Originally from Romania, the Valentin family relocated to the Costa Blanca in 2024 after Matias was diagnosed at just five months old with a rare kidney tumour.
Since then, the boy has undergone six major operations and more than 450 scans. Though the family now lives in Alicante, most of Matias’ treatment has been carried out at Valencia’s La Fe University Hospital, where doctors have placed him on an experimental drug called Afatinib.
Matias’ mum Lucica said the difference in care compared to the UK was ‘night and day.’
“Back in London, doctors said the disease was too little-known for them to help. They were terrified of making mistakes,” she told the Olive Press.
“But here in Valencia, they are taking such good care of him, especially the surgeons.”
“Sometimes, when we are at the hospital, doctors will pop into his room just to say hi or check on him – even if they are busy,” she added.
“I want the whole world to know how grateful I am to them.”
Over the past 18 months, surgeons have removed five large tumours from Matias’ abdomen and another from his lungs – some of them malignant.
Lucica said Afatinib has done what chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy could not, keeping the tumours from growing out of control.
“In London they would not give him Afatinib,” she said. “Here, at least he has got a chance.”
Matias had been unwell from birth, Lucica explained – but no one at Romford Queen’s Hospital in London, where he was born, spotted the tumour.
By the time doctors in Alicante operated, the tumour had grown to over 21cm – and Lucica is now considering suing Queen’s Hospital for negligence.
“If doctors in London had noticed the tumour at birth, maybe it would not have grown so much. Maybe the first surgery would not have been so hard on him,” she said.
Matias had his latest operation on January 15 – his birthday – but doctors say the fight is far from over.
Specialists at La Fe are now carrying out advanced tests to understand why his cancer keeps coming back. One removed tumour is being analysed, while some of Matias’ cancer cells have even been implanted into mice in a bid to unlock answers.
Matias suffers from mesoblastic nephroma – a rare condition, but one that is usually not fatal and is the most common tumour found in newborns.
His case, however, is anything but typical.
Lucica said her son had an ultra-rare mutation known as ‘EFGR-KDD mixed’ – which is not described in medical literature and causes his tumours to return again and again, often in malignant form.
“That is why they are studying his tumours – and that is why we need access to more experimental treatments,” she said. “Afatinib alone may not be enough.”
Afatinib was one of three drugs used in a groundbreaking Madrid-based study that, for the first time in history, successfully wiped out pancreatic cancer cells in mice.
Lucica said she has been trying to contact the study’s lead scientist, Mariano Barbacid, in the hope of sharing information and getting help – but has so far heard nothing.
“It would be great if we could talk and exchange information,” she said. “I do not know if the other two drugs could help Matias – but I want my boy to save other lives as well.”
READ MORE: Spanish scientists cure pancreatic cancer in mice – raising hopes for a breakthrough in humans
“And maybe, if doctors understand his disease, they can stop others from dying from it,” she added.
Matias’ nightmare began on June 1, 2024, while the family was on holiday in Alicante.
“He just stopped eating and going to the bathroom,” Lucica recalled. “He was so young, so I got worried and took him to the hospital.”
Doctors quickly discovered Matias was bleeding internally due to his first kidney tumour and rushed him into surgery.
After the operation, the family were told he would stand a better chance at La Fe Hospital in Valencia.
Lucica and her husband quit their jobs, packed up their lives in London and moved to Spain with Matias and his four-year-old sister, Antonia.
“And I am so grateful we did,” Lucica said.
Now, as they wait anxiously for test results and prepare for whatever comes next, Matias’ parents say they finally feel they are where they need to be.
“I am a mum and I am a fighter,” Lucica said. “I would do anything for my boy.”
“If you saw him now, you would not know what he has been through,” she added. “He is a fighter too.”
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