Mum devastated as daughter who was falling asleep at school diagnosed with brain tumour
01.01.2023 - 16:35
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A mum was left devastated after her teenage daughter who began falling sleeping at school was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Karen Kinsella says she was left 'numb' following the shock diagnosis after her teenage daughter developed a headache.
The mum-of-two, from Greater Manchester, says she would often come home to discover her daughter, Emily, asleep when she was supposed to be doing school work. However, Karen dismissed her child's tiredness back in 2021 for usual teenage antics.
Emily then developed a headache and a few days later her mum noticed that her face had dropped on one side. Karen decided to take a picture of the teenagers face and sent it to her GP, reports Manchester Evening News.
Within minutes she'd received a reply telling her they needed to go to A&E urgently. Once at hospital, the family were delivered the shocking news that Emily had a brain tumour.
Emily, who was 14 at the time, was immediately transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital and within days she underwent surgery to remove a section of the brain tumour in January 2021.
Karen said: "Three days later they came and told us the tumour was very nasty. They said it was the worst case scenario and that they couldn't give a number on how long she was going to live."
The family were told Emily's tumour was "treatable" but not "curable" and she was referred to the Christie Hospital in south Manchester for six weeks of radiotherapy. She was due to start a 12-month course of chemotherapy, but a bleed on her brain and developing shingles delayed the life-saving treatment by a number of months.
Karen added: "Emily was the only person in Manchester to finish the course of chemotherapy. Most children's bodies couldn't tolerate it for more than six months.