Fundraising Page for Daisy & DIPG Brain Cancer Research:
On the 3rd of May 2014 the Brooks family received devastating news, their beautiful 6 year old daughter Daisy was diagnosed with an incurable DIPG brain tumour.
Daisy went from being a normal child at school one day with no sign of illness to hospital the next and was having radiotherapy by the following week.
At the time, Daisy’s parents, Louis and Anna, were told that there was no hope of a cure but that radiotherapy would buy a little extra time to make precious memories with their daughter and that if they were lucky they could expect a few weeks of ‘good health’ before the symptoms took hold and their little girl would start to slip away
Daisy’s family and friends scoured the internet looking for some treatment that could help her. Like many parents in this desperate situation, they would have done anything, gone anywhere to help their beloved child but they found an answer right here in the UK in the brilliant Professor Steven Gill who was based in Bristol and had been researching innovative methods for treating neurological disorders like DIPG for over ten years. On July 28th 2014, Daisy and her family travelled to Bristol where she underwent pioneering brain surgery aided by a software guided robot to install a series of catheters attached to a titanium device made on a 3D printer which could be used to deliver chemotherapy direct to the tumour. Daisy’s bravery has eanbled a huge step forward in finding a cure for DIPG.
Daisy’s parents, family and friends continue to raise funds to be used by Professor Gill to continue the research and study that has enabled Daisy to be a pioneer in finding a cure for DIPG which will continue to benefit children and families in the future given what has up until now been an unequivocal death sentence.
Beautiful Daisy got her Angels wings at 3.20 am on 17th November 2014. She past away having spent her 7th birthday the day before surrounded by loved ones and left in peace shortly afterwards.
Her dignity and bravery has helped to pave the way in pioneering a cure for DIPG brain cancer. We will not stop raising awareness of this condition or funds to help find that cure to help the children and families so unfairly affected by this cruel illness.
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More Information on DIPG :
DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma) is a disease which strikes at the heart of childhood and it is a disease in desperate need of a cure. And at the same time, there may be no better place to start the search for a cure for cancer.
Consider the following:
- Lung cancer has a survival rate of 80% if caught in the early stages to less that 5% if caught in stage 5.
- Breast cancer has typically an 80-90% survival rate.
- Leukemia has a 48% survival rate.
- Less than 10% of DIPG children will live longer than 18 months from diagnosis. Survival is even more rare.
DIPG affects the pons portion of the brainstem, rendering nervous system function impossible. Symptoms include double vision, inability to close the eyelids completely, dropping one side of the face, and difficulty chewing and swallowing. Unfortunately these symptoms usually worsen rapidly because the tumor is rapidly growing.
DIPG, for all its difficulties, presents an opportunity for all forms of cancer. It is one of the most resistant of all cancers to chemotherapy treatments; it affects primarily children (whose treatment has historically led to innovations in many other forms of cancer), and with a “dismal” prognosis, alternatives are few. Put together, these obstacles offer researchers a chance to revolutionize cancer research and prevention. It is even suggested that a cure to DIPG might result in a cure for almost every other type of cancer. For this reason, the cure starts now.
