Terminally ill Sunderland football mascot Bradley Lowery has only weeks rather than months left to live, his heartbroken family has said.
New tests have revealed "devastating" results including fast-growing tumours that have left the six-year-old short of breath, said relatives in a social media post.
The little boy, who has captured the heart of the nation, had been receiving radio therapy to help control pain in his leg. However, last Thursday his health took a turn for the worse and he needed urgent hospital care.
"Once we were there, Bradley's consultant checked him over and sent him for a chest x-ray," the family said in a statement posted to the Facebook group Bradley Lowery's Fight Against Neuroblastoma.
"The results were devastating, all of Bradley's tumours have grown really fast. The reason his oxygen levels are low is because there isn't much room in his lungs now.
"I was told Bradley has now only got weeks to live because of how rapid the cancer is spreading.
"Yes, I knew this was coming but I thought it was going to be months not weeks," the statement reads.
The post goes on: "My heart is broken in two, it is too soon for this to happen, it should never be happening to start with.
"My baby has had to put up with so much over the past four years and now he has to suffer a painful death. How is that fair?"
A highlight for many Sunderland fans this season has been seeing how striker Jermain Defoe and Bradley have struck up a remarkable friendship, which included the star footballer visiting the boy in hospital.
In May, Defoe joined Bradley to celebrate the boy's sixth birthday along with more than 250 family and friends.
The party thrown for the young Sunderland fan, whose fight against neuroblastoma touched people around the world, was complete with fire-eaters, a funfair, marquee, jugglers and stilt-walkers.
But his health has worsened in recent weeks, with his family announcing just over a week ago that the young football fan was now receiving end-of-life care.
