Facebook 'helps save boy suffering from cancer'

LONDON: Facebook seems to be emerging more than just a popular social networking website -- it has helped save a four-year-old boy suffering from leukaemia.

The boy was reportedly diagnosed with the blood cancer after his worried father put a photo of him on Facebook.

Anaesthetic assistant Philip Rice noticed rash all over his son Ted's body as he put him to bed. He took a photo and put it on the social networking site.

Within minutes a doctor friend recognised the rash as a symptom of acute lymphocytic leukaemia and urged him to take Ted to hospital immediately, the 'Daily Express' reported.

The boy has now started a chemotherapy programme. 34-year-old Rice said his friend Dr Sara Barton, a colleague at Royal Salford Hospital, in Greater Manchester, may have saved his son's life.

Dr Barton said, "Philip just happened to mention, on Facebook of all places, that his son had a non-blanching rash. Next day I learned that he had acute lymphocytic leukaemia.

"It's a condition with reasonable odds of cure but Ted faces three years of gruelling chemotherapy to get better."

Rice has now shaved his head to match his son Ted and is hoping his son be well enough to start school part-time in September. Ted is now in a wheelchair, having chemotherapy.

The family, including mum Sarah, 33, and daughter Pippa, aged two, are trying to raise awareness and funds for The Rainbow Trust who have helped them.

Rice said, "We have had so much support from our neighbours. The whole community has been absolutely incredible."