Sofia

Hello, my name is Sofia.

A few days before my second birthday something unthinkable happened. I was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Sofia a few days after surgery

There were no warning signs, no time to prepare for the shock of the scan result. A week before, I started waking up in the middle of the night screaming from headaches and becoming more and more wobbly on my feet. That’s why they said I needed to have a scan, because the doctors couldn’t find anything else wrong with me. They found a large growth in my brain that was getting so big it was starting to press on other parts of my brain and making me lose my balance. It had to be removed immediately or I would die.

The number of children dying from a brain tumour in 2007 was 33% higher than in 2001; child deaths from leukaemia were 39% lower than in 2001. More children and people under the age of 40 die from a brain tumour in the UK than any other form of cancer.  Brain tumours have overtaken leukaemia as the leading cause of cancer death in children. 65% more women die from a brain tumour than from cervical cancer.

Despite these statistics, brain tumour research is seriously under-funded and has not received the same attention as other cancers. Thanks to the extraordinary work of Leukaemia Research and other charities, higher profile cancers generate more than 20 times the funding of brain cancer. Brain tumours receive less than 1% of the national spend on cancer research in the UK.  (www.wayahead-btrc.org)

The surgery was a success and my low grade astrocytoma was removed. But that was only the beginning of my road to recovery. Because the tumour was in my cerebellum, the part of the brain that co-ordinates movement, balance and fine motor skills; I had to learn to sit, crawl then walk and eventually even run and jump all over again, having just learned to walk several months ago in the first place.

I am now 3 and a half. And apart from having to go for regular MRI scans, I am a happy little girl and now even enjoy going to ballet! I am told that I am very special and very lucky.

Too many children (and adults) don’t get a second chance. Raising awareness of brain tumours is very important. Research into what causes brain tumours and how to treat them must continue and the funding must increase. There are many excellent charities out there that fund research and support for families. The charity that we have chosen is the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust (SDBTT)- it is the leading charity dedicated to adult and childhood brain tumour research in the UK.

Daddy will be doing a gruelling 24 hour mountain bike race with his friends on the 24/25 July 2010- the Bontrager twentyfour12 to raise awareness and money for SDBTT. Your contribution and encouragement, no matter how big or small, will be so greatly received.

Thank you!

http://www.justgiving.com/24endurance