This little boy’s mom wants the world to give her son a gift for his birthday: hope.
Rhys Williams, 13, suffers from a painful skin condition that’s limited his ability to walk and move freely outside his home in Lancashire, England. And lately, the chronic suffering has affected his will to live.
He told his mom, Tanya, that he wishes “a butterfly would come and take him away.” Now, she’s asking for birthday cards so that he’ll see that he’s cared for.
“I don’t think he can fight much longer,” she says. “His life depends on this.”
Rhys lives with severe dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB), a rare inherited skin disorder which leaves the skin fragile and prone to blisters and scars. DEB has no cure, has caused his fingers to fuse together and has confined him to a wheelchair.
At birth, Rhys wasn’t expected to survive into his teen years. Now, he’s approaching his 14th birthday on September 21. But his mom says he’s struggling to stay positive.
“Rhys’ life revolves around school, Xbox, sleep, repeat,” Tanya says. “He doesn’t want to go shopping because he doesn’t like the way people look at him.”
Though he’s taking morphine to help alleviate the pain — which is the only thing doctors can do for patients like him — the struggle of dealing with it every day has gotten to be too much.
“The last few months, he’s had enough of life. He’s had enough of being in pain with the sores. He just wants to give up, he doesn’t want to fight anymore.”
She hopes that if people send Rhys birthday cards, it’ll show him that people care for him and want him to live. Last Christmas, she made a similar plea, which helped to lift his spirits. Hundreds of holiday cards were sent to her son, which helped him see that “not everything is bad,” she says.
“It showed him that he still needs to fight, that there’s people out there who do care and do love him.”
Cards can be sent to Rhys at 40 Whalley Avenue, Bolton, BL1 5UD.
