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.
"She didn't moan once." After finishing her course of chemotherapy, the tumour was stabilised for a while and Emily was able to go back to living a relatively normal life.
Karen said: "She couldn't go back to school but her art teacher kept in touch and she went into school some lunch times to see her friends. Emily was actually shortlisted as BBC young artist of the year before all of this.
"When she finally got the call to come into casting it broke my heart as the reality that her life had changed hit me." However, tragically, Emily then developed problems swallowing and was advised by doctors at Manchester Children's Hospital that she needed to have another scan.
The devastated family were told the saddening results that the original tumour had returned and a secondary tumour had appeared at the brain stem - making it inoperable. Karen said: "The Christie did agree to do 10 sessions of radiotherapy at a lower dose, but then she ended up in intensive care because she couldn't breathe and was placed on oxygen.
"She was there for six days and we were told to prepare for the worst twice. By this time she had pneumonia and her lung had collapsed.
"But she just didn't give up. They thought she wasn't going to make it.
"Her friends all came to say goodbye. We were all crying by her bedside.
"Then all of a sudden she began breathing on her own and they were able to reduce her oxygen. The doctors and nurses said it was a miracle."
Emily, who is now 16, has now finished her radiotherapy and was able to spend Christmas at home with her family. Karen says they are now turning their hopes to a trial drug - which is currently only available in America or France.
She said: "The hope is that it will keep Emily alive until something comes along. It won't cure her but it could prolong her life and that's all we want for her.
"We'd like to get Emily on the drug for a few months and then we will turn our focus to start lobbying the UK government so that she can access it here. It's not just the money, it's the travel to France.
"It's the time off work and you just have to put your life on hold. We will find the money, even if we have to sell the house."
The Kinsella family have started a fundraiser for the teenagers treatment and have raised over £10,000 so far at the time of writing. On the GoFundMe page the target goal for donations is set at £25,000.
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