Amy's Story

Amy was diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma Brain Tumour in sept 2003 after initial diagnosis Amy had to under go an 8 hour operation to remove the tumour followed by 6 weeks of daily full head and spinal radiotherapy, the next stage was 8 months of intensive chemotherapy (Due to the detrimental affect the chemo would have on Amy's appetite she was also fitted with a gastrostomy tube and fed nightly by machine ) finally treatment finished and we hoped for the best.

Unfortunately that was not to be, a year later the medulloblastoma had returned but this time it was in Amy's Bonemarrow and Liver not Brain (This is a very rare occurance ) Amy was given a 10% chance of survival, but began another round of 7 months of gruelling chemotherapy the aim being to get Amy into complete remission so that the final stage of a stem cell harvest could be performed within isolation. Miraculously the treatment worked and we ventured out of isolation after a 6 week stay of confinement . Could we finally dare to dream of a bright future.

It was not to be almost a year to the day a routine brain scan showed that the beast was back for the final time.Amy was put on a research protocol to try and slow down the development of the tumour and give Amy a better quality of life for as long as possible, it meant daily visits to the hospital for chemotherapy and amazingly we had miraculous results again for so long but it was not to last Amy passed away on 22-9-08.

It was the continuing research that gave us valuble and precious time with Amy , her legacy is that the answers she gave may finally help cure a child in the future . This research must be allowed to continue