Boy saved by David Beckham haircut

A three-year-old boy was saved by his David Beckham-style haircut after the trim led to doctors diagnosing his leukaemia. Maddox Tallowin's parents discovered lumps on the back of his head when they gave him the haircut last October.

Specialists at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge diagnosed leukaemia and he was immediately put on a course of chemotherapy. Now Maddox is in remission but will need chemo and steroid treatment for three years.

"It was more luck than anything else that we found it," said dather Ben Tallowin, 32. "Maddox had a Mohawk haircut. The sides were short but when we touched the actual mohawk there were these bumps on either side of his neck at the nottom of his head.



"It didn't feel right, so we made an appointment the same day and got him into the doctor's. The doctor wasn't sure so he arranged for blood tests at 8.30am the next morning at the blood clinic in Clacton.

"They came back with the results that afternoon and we had the doctors banging on the door. It was the worst thing.

"I feel so lucky we found it when we did. The doctors said that often it isn't picked up until the child is unwell and Maddox wasn't ill at the time so we got it early."