Our little boy thinks we're torturing him": Mum's agony at watching son, 5, go through gruelling chemo that could save his life

As he goes to hospital again to have tubes stuck into his tiny body, George Woodall faces being left sick and too tired to run around with his big brother. He doesn't understand.

His parents keep taking him away from his friends and to the doctors, where he is forced to have medicine that hurts his tummy and makes his hair fall out.

And every week, as his mum and dad, along with two other people, pin him down to remove and change his dressings - again - George screams because it hurts.

In his mother Vicki's words, little George thinks his parents are torturing him.

At five-years-old he doesn't understand he has a rare cancer and that the chemotherapy he is being forced to endure may save his life. He doesn't comprehend that his scar is from a 10-hour surgery to remove a tumour and part of his spine - a procedure that was also done to save him, and with such intricacy to try to ensure he could walk in the future.

And on the visits he makes to his school, George doesn't realise the messages that have been circulated beforehand, checking if children are ill so that the tot's battered immune system is not exposed to more bugs while he snatches a few precious moments with his friends.

The family said their son, pictured as he awaited diagnosis, was a happy and healthy boy (Image: Vicki Woodall)

George has even captured the attention of Prince William - who took home capes for Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and their mother Kate Middleton (Image: Vicki Woodall)

George doesn't understand how the hospital treatment that makes him feel sick is helping (Image: Vicki Woodall)

"I think cancer at any age is bad, but when you see it in a child, it's pretty barbaric," said mum Vicki Woodall.

"Every step of the way George doesn't understand what's happening. He thinks we are torturing him.

"He doesn't understand why we take him to hospital and he suddenly gets more ill. On a regular basis we have to pin him down to change his dressings as he cries. You just have to hold back the tears. It happens every single time."

And as they struggle to deal with George's reaction, the family has also had to try and explain to his older brother Alex what is going on. At eight, Alex has a better understanding of what has happened - his grandad died from cancer, so all he associates with the disease is death.

Vicki added: "He remembers his grandad passing away years before, so his instant question was, is George going to die?

"After his chemotherapy George doesn't want to eat. We find ourselves trying to explain to Alex why George can have ice cream and chocolates for breakfast, and trying to help him make sense of it all."

George with his older brother Alex, and parents Vicki and Woody, pictured on 7th of January - just days after he was diagnosed (Image: Vicki Woodall)

Remake of the same photo taken in April this year after George had had treatment (Image: Vicki Woodall)

George's spirit has encouraged a lot of people to don capes like him (Image: Vicki Woodall)

Despite his diagnosis, and how sick the chemotherapy makes him feel, George has retained his smiling energetic demeanour throughout. This has earned him a number of celebrity supporters - including Prince William, Judi Dench and Andy Murray, who are supporting the family's campaign to raise money for cancer treatment for children through George's Giant Pledge and donning super hero capes to show their support.

The family's nightmare began at the end of last year, when George was just four. When she was putting George - 'an energetic fidget" - to bed, Vicki noticed a lump sticking out of his spine. The next morning, on November 27th, it was still there.

"Once you had seen it, you couldn't un-see it," added Vicki.

"I could even see it when he was standing up straight."

Vicki took George to A&E the next day and he was given an ultrasound. As they sat waiting in an almost empty reception, Vicki began to worry something was wrong with her healthy little boy, who was previously so energetic she described him as 'like a puppy' that they needed to take out to tire him out.

Then the nurse patted her back, and told Vicki her they had to "work to the worst case scenario" and they thought her four-year-old little boy had a tumour.

"I was in floods of tears and George didn't have a clue what was going on. He was trying to wipe my tears away with a tissue," said Vicki.

George after surgery when he had part of his spine removed in a 10 hour operation (Image: Vicki Woodall)

George having his Hickman line accessed for the first time in January 2017

Judi Dench has lent her support (Image: Vicki Woodall)

"As soon as you hear the word cancer it makes you want to be sick. Then I had to drive home, and I had to call my husband and tell him on the phone. That was awful."

From that moment George's life changed as well as that of his family. The next day he saw an oncologist who checked the rest of his body for tumours and he was referred to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London to have a biopsy. Then, just three days after New Year, they were given the devastating news that George had cancer. He was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a form of cancer that is usually on the bone but was creating a tumour pressing on his spine.

As they awaited his test results on New Year's Eve, George's family decided to launch George and the Giant Pledge, to raise funds for treatment for children with childhood cancers at the Royal Marsden. Their family motto is "between us, we've got this."

Their aim is to raise as much money as possible to help children like George, which they have done by trying to get celebrities on board - wearing capes - to raise their target £1m. They have even attracted the attention of Prince William, who met the family and took home four capes for himself, Katherine and their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

As part of the treatment for this form of cancer, George had to have six rounds of intensive chemotherapy followed by eight more. He has just had his 11th round, but almost every time contracts an infection and has to go into hospital. He also had to have surgery to have his tumour and part of his spine removed to stop the cancer from spreading, as well as a nerve ending that was wrapped around it. Luckily a nerve that controls the flexing of his knee was saved, meaning George can still walk.

Patient George Woodall pretending to be 'Dr George' and 'Alex has Cancer'

As their plans to celebrate George's birthday at Disney Land collapsed, the family took shelter in a wardrobe - which they told the boys was a birthday camping trip. The proton beam therapy was delayed, but within a few days he was back on track and having treatment again, and they returned home after nine weeks, with George with a burn on his back from the therapy.

As George has had more chemotherapy his family has seen his energy fall and had to watch their tiny son in pain as doctors do all they can to save him.

Woody added: "I hold back the tears. Every week he has a dressing change and it takes four of us to hold him down. He knows he has to have his dressing changed, but every week he doesn't want it to happen. It's like when he has treatment. He doesn't want the tubes put in then he doesn't want them taken out because it hurts.

"Initially he was the same energetic healthy boy, running round in between treatment. But now he gets very tired. He is still on his feet after the operation, he really is a phenomenal little boy. He is getting close to a run now."

More than 100 people donned capes for the Marsden March (Image: Vicki Woodall)

As George was due to start school this term, his family have tried to make him as much part of lessons as possible.

On the day they landed they raced both boys to school, in uniform, for the sibling photo and George had his first day, for all of 30 minutes. For now, he will only get short bursts of lessons but thankfully he knows no different.

The five-year-old is hopefully due to finish his treatment at the end of this year but has managed to recruit a band of celebrities to support his campaign for more treatment for children like him.

Woody added: "None of this money goes directly to George. It's not just for his form of cancer but it's for all childhood cancers.

"We are hopeful that at the beginning of January, George's normal life will start to resume. His return won't be as normal as some, we will have to be careful about what sports he plays. His experience will always be a little different."

The family initially launched George's Giant Pledge with a target of £100,000 but smashed this in two weeks, so they decided to increase it to £1m for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The campaign has seen celebrities wearing the capes, as well as runners at fundraising events to contribute cash to the pledge.

Both Vicki and Woody said they have been overwhelmed from the support they have had - from both friends and strangers alike, with donations coming in from 26 countries across the world.