EXCLUSIVE Jake's mother thought his stuffy nose was hay fever...
in fact it was stage three cancer. Here she reveals some of his heartbreaking last words before he died By Julia Sidwell For The Mail On Sunday Published: 06:52 EDT, 30 June 2024 | Updated: 06:52 EDT, 30 June 2024 e-mail View comments When Lynsey Swinscoe noticed her 13-year-old son Jake had a stuffy nose and watery eyes in June last year, there could be only one explanation. 'I figured it must be hay fever,' says Lynsey, 41, from Wiltshire.
'So I bought him some antihistamines, to see if they would help.' And they did. But when Jake's dad Adam, 42, returned home a few weeks later, he noticed something odd.
'Adam is in the Army,' says Lynsey, a civil servant with the Ministry of Defence, 'and when he saw Jake he noticed the bridge of his nose looked a swollen. Because I'd been with Jake a lot, I hadn't noticed the gradual change.' Although neither parent was unduly concerned, they booked Jake an appointment with their GP, who immediately sent him to A&E where a CT scan revealed a growth inside his skull.
Jake Swinscoe, 13, with his big sister Ava in hospital. Jake was diagnosed with stage-three alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, an extremely rare and aggressive soft-tissue cancer that mainly affects teenagers and young adults Before his death, Jake's parents took him out in a Lotus supercar - a dream come true for him 'It was the size of an egg and pressing on his brain, which was what was causing the hay fever-like sym.
