A little boy who had a suspected knee fracture ended up having his leg amputated after doctors discovered he actually had bone cancer.

Corinthian Marchant, nine, had his right left amputated above the knee in December 2024 after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma - bone cancer - last year.

He began complaining of leg pains last summer and started struggling to walk, but it wasn't until late September 2024 that he got the diagnosis.

Doctors initially told his mum, Candice, 35, that he had fractured his knee but later confirmed he had a tumour in his right leg following an MRI.

Corinthian was started on chemotherapy as an outpatient at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham and the swelling in his leg began to shrink.

But after a two-week break waiting for his next round of chemo, due to a bed shortage, Corinthian's tumour grew and the swelling came back.

Unfortunately, the tumour had also spread into his knee, and doctors at Birmingham Children's Hospital, West Midlands, were left with no choice but to amputate his leg above the knee in December.

Corinthian is back at home now and Candice hopes his chemotherapy will be finished by the end of May.

Mum-of-eight Candice, a full-time carer, from Northampton, said: "He's been through a lot, bless him."

"He's had to have blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, and he's really susceptible to all infections."

"My head was all over the place when we had to amputate - they said the tumour was really close to an artery. "

"He's been absolutely amazing. "

"He makes jokes about things - saying he looks like Patrick from Spongebob."

When Corinthian first began complaining of discomfort in his leg, Candice initially put it down to growing pains.

She said: "It seemed to get worse and worse - he couldn't even walk to school."

"We took him to the doctors, and they said something didn't seem right, and they wanted to do a scan."

"The hospital did a scan and x-ray and they said his knee was fractured."

"But the injury clinic didn't agree it was fractured."

"He then had an MRI a few weeks later as they still didn't know what was happening."

"Almost two weeks after the MRI, we'd had enough, and I took him to A&E."

"They pulled us aside in a waiting room and the doctor came in and told us he had a tumour."

"They were pretty sure it was bone cancer - we then had to have a biopsy in Birmingham in September to get the official diagnosis."

Corinthian was started on chemotherapy almost immediately - which Candice described it as "awful."

She said: "He was in so much pain, it was awful. "

"The pain medication wasn't really doing anything for him."

"The swelling started to shrink when he had the chemo, but the cancer ward gets that busy so sometimes you can't have your scheduled chemo, and you have to wait for a bed, and in that time, it began to swell up again."

Doctors then gave Candice the crushing news that her son needed his leg amputated.

She said: "I noticed his leg was swelling up and they told us it was the biggest tumour they had seen, and it had got bigger and had gone into his knee. "

"We decided the best course of action was to get it amputated."

"We're hoping the amputation has removed any remaining cancer cells in his leg - we're hoping he won't need any further chemotherapy after May but we'll see."

Candice has had to juggle looking after all eight children while also overseeing Corinthian's treatment.

"It's been a nightmare," she said."

"The eldest has been amazing, as has their dad, but I mean emotionally, it's tough."

"I've missed one of my children's first year at school."

"And we've sometimes been away from home for a month at a time."

"We're in hospital more than we're home - he's either caught something, got an infection or there for chemo."

"But Corinthian has always had a positive outlook on everything."

Candice has set up a fundraiser for Corinthian "to help his mobility, make his treatment more enjoyable and celebrate when one day he'll ring the bell to show that he's beaten bone cancer". "

You can support the fundraiser here - https://www.gofundme.com/f/our-8-yr-old-son-has-bone-cancer