Story
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We are delighted to be supporting Theodora’s Children’s Charity (Giggle Doctors) which has proved invaluable in helping a local family through the treatment their five year old daughter has been receiving for a brain tumour over the past twenty months.
Cancer in children and teenagers is more common than you think with four thousand children and teenagers diagnosed in the UK each year. Some of the cancers that children get are extremely aggressive and therefore require more aggressive forms of treatment. These treatments can be very harsh and unpleasant and leaves them weak and vulnerable to all kinds of infections
Mimi is five years old and was first admitted to hospital in June 2013. She had been extremely tired and used to sleep a lot. After developing a squint and vomiting in the mornings, a trip to the Opticians resulted in an MRI scan at the hospital and the discovery of a tennis ball sized tumour in her head.
Mimi was only three when she first spent a considerable amount of time in Addenbrooke’s hospital, it was there that she first met the Giggle Doctors (Theodora’s Children’s Charity). She was overwhelmed and confused and the interaction with the Giggle Doctors was a real treat for her.
In September 2013, an MRI scan showed that Mimi had hydrocephalus and that half the tumour that had been removed had grown back. Before chemotherapy could commence, the hydrocephalus had to be addressed with a shunt. On the day of this operation, Mimi and her mum were waiting for hours on the ward, Mimi was nil by mouth and very lethargic. Mimi’s mum’s most treasured Giggle Doctor moment was when they walked into the playroom blowing magic bubbles for her, resulting in a huge smile before her operation and her condition deteriorating. Mimi’s hospital visits are always enhanced when the Giggle Doctors are around.