Brain tumour boy Neon Roberts doing well after radiotherapy but mother Sally Roberts vows to fight on
The father of a seven-year-old boy who was taken on the run by his mother to spare him the ordeal of radiotherapy has hit back at her claims that the life-saving treatment had ‘broken’ him.
Ben Roberts, 34, insisted their son Neon, who has completed 30 sessions of radiotherapy following the removal of a large brain tumour last year, was making good progress and that doctors were ‘cautiously optimistic’ that he would make a full recovery.
Mr Roberts reacted after his estranged wife Sally, 37, who lost a high- profile legal battle to stop her son receiving the treatment, claimed that radiotherapy had damaged Neon irreparably.
In December, Mrs Roberts fled with her son to prevent him being given the treatment following the removal of the tumour in October.
She argued that radiotherapy could cause him to suffer serious side effects such as stunted growth and infertility, and wanted to be allowed to pursue alternative treatments.
The High Court, however, dismissed her case after doctors advised the child would die within three months if he was denied the ‘gold standard’ treatment.
The court said her judgment had ‘gone awry’.
Yesterday, Mr Roberts, from West London, said Neon was having a short break from treatment before starting chemotherapy in early April.
More... Cinema staff throw seven-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome out of a children's matinee for LAUGHING too loudly Parents' heartache as THREE of their five children are diagnosed with the life-threatening condition cystic fibrosisHe acknowledged that his son had suffered side effects such as tiredness, but said these were to be expected in the short term.
Neon's mother Sally, left, is fighting her son's treatment but her estranged husband Ben supports the doctorsHis wife, a New Zealander who now lives in Brighton, claimed this week that Neon was ‘grey and fragile’ and ‘not the boy I know any more’.
She added: ‘I look into my little boy’s eyes and there is nothing there.
'I see this child who was always laughing and happy sitting with his little head in his hands crying.
‘The thing that scared me most was that the radiation would change him, damage him – and it has done both.’
Sally Roberts and Daybreak's Dr Hilary Jones disagreed over the best treatment for Ms Roberts' son Neon yesterday