Connie was diagnosed with high-risk medulloblastoma, a childhood brain tumour, in October 2022. Her mum, Tina, shares her story.
Connie first developed symptoms of sickness and headaches at the beginning of September 2022. As we had been to Thorpe Park two days before, at first, I thought she had whiplash from some of the rides, but she gradually got worse and after a few visits to the doctor we were referred to hospital where a CT scan revealed a brain tumour.
She was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) where she had a seven-hour operation, which successfully removed the tumour.
Connie was diagnosed high-risk due to an anaplastic/large cell and was put on a clinical trial run by SIOP (the International Society of Paediatric Oncology). She had two rounds of chemotherapy followed by 30 proton radiotherapy sessions and six months of a type of chemotherapy called temozolomide.
Connie finished treatment in August 2023 and rang the end of treatment bell on 11 October 2023, almost a year on from diagnosis.
As brain tumours don't go into remission, we live by each MRI scan. Her last scan in September revealed 'no evidence of disease' (NED) and her next scan will be at the end of the year. It's a long, scary road - the next 18 months are crucial to keeping relapse at bay, with five years left until she can be deemed cancer-free.
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