Mum's heartbreaking decision not to tell 5-year-old son he has terminal cancer

A young mum from New South Wales has made the heartbreaking decision not to tell her 5-year-old son he has less than a year to live.

Hannah Oakhill's son Joshua has battled rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue cancer, for nearly half of his life.

In 2016 Joshua fell severely ill, and scans revealed he had a mass bigger than 10cm on his liver, 7 News reported.

Joshua and his mum were told by medical staff he had a 95 per cent chance of surviving.

However, the 5-year-old now has less than a year to live.

Despite 40 cycles of chemotherapy and 24 cycles of radiation, Joshua relapsed in March, leaving Oakhill with a heartbreaking decision whether or not to tell Joshua the tragic news.

A young mum has made the heartbreaking decision not to tell her five-year-old son he has less than a year to live. Photo / Joshua's Fight Against Cancer / Facebook

Oakhill told 7 News doctors can only prolong his life and she's not sure how she'd ever gather the courage to tell Joshua.

"That was the hardest day of my life," Oakhill told Yahoo7 News as she choked back tears.

"Doctors have told us there is nothing else they can do for him. Anything at this point will only prolong his life, but nothing will cure the cancer."

"He doesn't know what's happening, he knows he's sick, he just doesn't know his fate has already been handed down to him," Oakhill said.

"He is still a very bubbly energetic boy… I don't think I will tell him, there is no point ruining what time he has left."

Medical staff can no longer help Joshua. Photo / Joshua's Fight Against Cancer / Facebook

Now the family's attention has turned to fulfill Joshua's bucket-list.

While Josh wants to meet Batman, and the Lego man and ride in the cockpit of a plane and travel with a postman, his biggest aim is getting back to school.

"He has done a bit of day care but once he got sick with cancer, he really couldn't do anything," Oakhill said.

"He wants to go in the full school uniform and make it a proper experience."

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Joshua achieve everything on his bucket list.

More than A$6000 has been raised to date.