Anastasia
Anastasia was a happy and healthy little girl until 26th of August 2022.
On that day she started to complain about her head hurting and she started to feel dizzy, was very wobbly and weak. She also started to be sick. Same symptoms happened on the 27th of August so we took her straight to Brighton Children Hospital where on 28th of August we found out she had a brain tumour.
Our world was turned upside-down...
We had no idea she was poorly before then. She complained about the odd headache and tummy ache but doctors assumed it was a bug as her blood results kept coming back absolutely fine. We was blue lighted to kings college hospital in London late evening on 28th of August She had her first surgery to drain the fluid on her brain and take a biopsy on Monday 29th of August. She was recovering really well until late afternoon on Wednesday 31st of August when she started having seizures, unconsciousness and vomiting. She was taken for an emergency CT scan and that showed bleeding to the tumour so she was rushed to the theatre for a life saving surgery that night to cut the tumour out.
The sentence " I'm afraid you have to prepare for the worst " will haunt me forever It was the longest 18 hours of my life.
The surgeons managed to cut over 90% of it out. It was over 6cm long and over 3cm wide. She survived the surgery however, she lost the ability to walk, talk, eat and drink. .. we didn't know if our baby girl was brain damaged or not for weeks.
On Friday 2nd of Sep 2022 we found out it's cancerous. She was diagnosed with ATRT brain cancer Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is a very rare, aggressive tumor of the central nervous system, occurring mostly in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls movement and balance, or the brain stem, the part of the brain that controls basic body functions. It was a very long journey but .....
She's finished all her treatment including 9 rounds of intensive chemo and 6 weeks of daily head and spine radiotherapy in March 2023 and has been cancer free since May 2023. She's mastered her talking, eating and drinking again and she's also relearning her walking Our incredible little girl has beaten cancers butt at just 4 years old. Even though she's been cancer free for a long time she still has a 10 year MRI plan, regular checks and other appointments.
Childhood and cancer are two words parents should never have to hear.
