Albie's story.

Albie; he was our whirlwind of a toddler, the always crazy, always on the move, typical boy, an absolutely spectacular child with a zest for life like no other. Albie was sadly taken from us in November 2021.

It all began when Albie had a seizure in Oct 2020. We rushed him to hospital and he quickly recovered so his doctors were not concerned - they thought perhaps a febrile convulsion or perhaps a rare type of epilepsy but further tests would be done. We were of course terrified but knew we needed to not worry until the results were in. Before the results could come back Albie was rushed into hospital again with severe vomiting, and after a couple of days trying to figure out what was going on, they did a CT scan.

They told us that Albie had a tumour the size of a tennis ball and he would need emergency surgery. 12 hours later he was rushed into surgery. We spent a long and painful 10 hours pacing the hallways and not knowing if we would see our child again.

The surgery went to plan, 99 percent of the tumour was removed and infact, Albie's recovery was like nothing they had ever seen. He exceeded all the expectations of his doctors and after just 5 short days we were on our way home, waiting for a call to say what this tumour could possibly be - and again, living on the edge.

New Year's Eve 2021 was yet another sad, yet memorable day for us when vomiting started again. Albie had to be started on emergency chemotherapy because they thought the tumour was beginning to grow again. It was just 3 short weeks after surgery. Absolutely terrified we went along with what was best for Albie. His tumour had not yet been named yet - all they knew was that it was an aggressive cancer and treatment needed to begin immediately.

To this day Albie's tumour can still not be named.

Through 8 months of grueling treatment, Albie had numerous complications. Things were never simple but Albie was something special. He smiled all the way and exceeded what was expected of him from day one. Running around the hospital and demanding ice lollies every single day. He was amazing and the results from his scans were always good.

So it was an absolute shock to us to hear bad news at the beginning of October 2021. A routine scan had showed that the disease had spread to his CSF (cerebral spinal fluid). Things were no longer curable for Albie, but with treatment we had expected to get years more with him. Albie's treatment plan was made and we spent the next month trying to fill his life with as much fun as possible. We always tried to make life as fun as possible in and around his hospital stays. We knew chemo was about to start again and we wanted to spend as much quality time together as we possibly could.

Before Albie could get to his new treatment plan he was rushed into hospital with a bleed on the brain. They did an emergency operation to relieve some pressure but we were sat down to be told that the bleed had come from a new nodule of disease. He had 3 new nodules of disease in two weeks and we were likely to only have days left with our child.

The cancer was taking over and we were out of options.

Just two short weeks later Albie passed away peacefully at Helen House in Oxford.

Heartbroken. We now live with broken hearts, the pain is unbearable, we miss our special, happy, smiley, confident boy every day and no parent should have to endure this pain.

So we turn to a new mission. A mission to raise awareness and much needed funding. To put in all the effort we possibly can to try and avoid this story becoming someone else's. Albie deserved better - let's do better.

We would love our family and friends to continue their support by joining us in raising money for Brain Tumour Research. We have set up 'Albie and Beyond' as a fundraising group and would love YOUR support. Whether you can undertake a challenge event, hold an event, get your company to choose Brain Tumour Research as a Charity Partnership, donate prizes for auctions or raffles, or spread the word......we need your support please.