the Simon & John……. Will be taking part in the Great North Run (13.1 miles) 11th September 2022 in Newcastle for a little girl called Dottie.

After meeting Dottie & visibly seeing she had no hair and speaking to her parents we found out little Dottie had an inoperable brain tumour. We were speaking to parents about charity’s that had helped them along the way one being beads of courage.
So it was decided that we will run for Beads of Courage.
Below is Dotties story
On Friday 4th September 2020, Dottie was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour (Bilateral Glioma of the Thalamus) which currently is being treated with chemotherapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) & Basildon Hospital, her treatment started in September 2020 and is due to finish in May 2022.

Dottie was only 4 years old when she had a really bad headache & we took her to our local A&E where she had an emergency MRI scan & was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

5 days after Dottie was first diagnosed, due to concerns regarding the build up of pressure and fluid around the brain, she had a craniotomy, it was also necessary to carry out surgery to obtain some biopsies from the tumour in order to diagnose the type of tumour which Dottie had and the necessary treatment.

Once we had all the results back from the laboratory, we were then hit with the fact this was going to be a long journey, requiring 18 months of chemotherapy, frequent trips to GOSH and Basildon Hospitals. Throughout all of this, we had to try and stay positive.

Firstly, Dottie commenced her chemotherapy, which happened to coincide with what would have been her first day at primary school, with her best friends. Sadly, we were in a hospital about to commence 18 months of chemotherapy. The feelings and emotions were of despair and heartbreaking sadness.

Any funds raised which Dottie will not require, will be donated and shared to all to the beads of courage charity that have helped us on our journey.

John and Simon