The day our lives were turned upside down is etched in my memory. I remember it so vividly, my heart sinks every time it comes into my mind still to this day. We sent Ralphy off to school, like every morning it was a rush, he was asking where his home work books were & I was stressing trying to remember the, “safe place”, I had put them. In the afternoon I got a phone call from school, the receptionist sounded frantic, telling me an ambulance had been called and that something was, “wrong” with Ralphy. I remember saying to my mum I thought they were over reacting, may be Ralphy was being dramatic, I didn’t have any concerns at that moment, I thought it was a bit of an over reaction. By the time I got to school it became apparent something wasn’t right. The ambulance arrived and by the time we got to hospital Ralphy was completely unresponsive, there were so many doctors, consultants all rushing round, sticking needles in both his hands, you could see they too were worried. I heard one of them say, “potential bleed on the brain we need to get him to CT now”. By that point I was numb, in complete shock, “but he was fine this morning”, I kept saying out loud over & over again. They took us to one side & said, “We are going to have to ventilate your son to protect his brain, we don’t know what is going on we need to send him for a CT scan”, my legs went numb, I couldn’t even react, Dale was stood in the corner & I could tell by the look on his face he was thinking the same as me, “is our son going to die”, I asked the consultant that exact question & he looked at me and said, “I can’t answer that, but he’s safe & stable for now, we need to get him to CT straight away”.

We sat outside in a waiting area for 45 minutes waiting hopelessly for those CT results. A doctor finally came out and told us it was clear. There was no bleed. At least he had a chance now. It was such a relief. They took him off the ventilator and that’s when all the tests & scans began.

After an MRI & an EEG he was diagnosed with epilepsy. It was grand mal seizure he had that day at school. They had found something on his MRI but they weren’t sure exactly what it was and it needed to be monitored.

Fast forward to the last year and it became apparent the, “thing”, was in fact a slow growing brain tumour. That changed everything. All of a sudden things became a lot more scary & the unknown was unbearable.

Ralph’s seizures became more and more unpredictable, the tumour was progressing & the decision was taken to remove it. Ralphy had brain surgery on the 25th March 25. He was in surgery for 11 hours. He has a lovely warrior scar to show for it and hopes & dreams of a better quality of life & a bright future. It may be that Ralph needs further treatment depending on the out come of the biopsy. The results we are hoping to get in the next couple of weeks but we are hopeful & positive. He was so brave & resilient through it all. It’s been the hardest time as parents & it’s given us the drive to want to give back. To help parents & children like Ralphy. A lot are in much worse scenarios but they still have the same resilience & hope. You never think it will happen to your family, to your child. We were those parents.

My husband Dale has decided to set himself the biggest, craziest challenge to date which is to complete a 24 hour rowing challenge. This event will take place at Wigginton Squash club starting on May 9th 25 at 10am & finishing May 10th 25 at 10am. Along side Dale’s challenge the squash team are also doing their own challenge of a 24 hour squash match which will start at 5pm on the 9th & finish at 5pm on the 10th with the whole team taking part.

The funds being raised will be for Oscar’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity”, a local, wonderful, fabulous charity who work closely with parents and children who have brain tumours. Something very close to our hearts. They are on the other end of the phone what ever time of the day consistently for us, whether it be to, “check in”, or to put my mind at rest when I’ve been having a, “mum panic moment”, they’re there. It’s so important charities like this exist to give parents & kids the support that isn’t widely available other wise.

We would be so grateful if everyone could get behind Dale & Wigginton Squash Club to give what ever they can to raise as much money for this much needed, amazing charity.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story. Your support means everything.