Teen planned own funeral and now has just days to live after sepsis diagnosis

09 December 2023 , 10:22

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Rhys Williams could have just days left to live (Image: Tanya Moores)

A teenager who has planned his funeral has been moved to end-of-life care after becoming severely unwell with sepsis and pneumonia.

It's feared Rhys Williams has days left to live after struggling to breathe due to the conditions, which have caused his oxygen levels to plummet. He is now in a hospice for young people and his family, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, are heartbroken.

Rhys defied doctors' expectations to turn 18 this year as he was born with a type of epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a group of skin conditions which cause sores and blisters. As there is no cure for this, treatment aims to relieve symptoms and prevent complications developing, such as infection.

The teenager was born with a type of epidermolysis bullosa, a group of skin diseases (Tanya Moores)

Rhys, of Bolton, Greater Manchester, has planned his own funeral (Tanya Moores)

But those with EB are prone to infection and Rhys was diagnosed with sepsis and given antibiotics in hospital last month. The youngster started struggling to breathe again and, though medics initially put this down to a collapsed lung and a chest infection, Rhys actually had pneumonia.

Rhys, who had planned his funeral years ago when the agony of EB became unbearable, become extremely unwell when he was diagnosed with pneumonia. His mum Tanya Moores, 40, told Manchester Evening News: "I was told to get back up to the hospital and get everyone there. He only had a matter of hours. He was really, really poorly... He is in the hospice right now. It could be days or a couple of weeks. I’m trying to keep things normal for the family."

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The Liverpool FC fan developed sepsis and pneumonia last month (Tanya Moores)

Doctors told Tanya, a mum of three, they believe Rhys will never recover and the decision was made on Wednesday to put him in end-of-life care at Derian Hospice, in Chorley, Lancashire. Tanya added: "It’s just crazy. I just don’t know – my head can’t make sense of anything at the moment. If I stop doing something, that’s when I crash. That’s why I try and keep myself busy and occupied and surrounded. When I’m on my own and thinking, that’s when I go downhill."

Rhys first experienced sepsis symptoms, which Tanya says were like those of Covid, last month after he and his father returned from a holiday to Dorset. EB is a life-limiting condition, which makes those with it more susceptible to infection, and restricts movement significantly.

Rhys uses a wheelchair but, growing up, the boy would often refuse to leave the house in fear of people staring at him. His pain once became so overbearing he told his mum Tanya he wished “a butterfly would come and take him away”. Tragically, he even went on to plan his own funeral.

A fundraiser has now been set up to help the family pay for funeral costs. It reads: “We are starting this fund raiser now so we can give Rhys the send-off he deserves. The funeral director has been in and taken all the details and everything is being put into place so it's less strain on the family in the coming days/weeks."

Paige Oldfield