Amelia Bowen
I want to share Amelia’s story so far in her young life and being diagnosed with a brain Tumour.
Amelia was diagnosed with a brain tumour back in 2nd January 2018, this came about because of headaches and a possible throat infection within December 2017, even over the Christmas period Amelia was not herself, quite subdued but you could see that she was not right. I took Amelia back to the Doctors again for a second opinion, as we had the feeling that things were not ok with Amelia, its ok the Doctors saying its possibly an infection or headaches and suggested that she gets her eyes tested, but you can-not doubt a Parents feeling that something was seriously wrong.
An MRI scan at a local Hospital was carried out on the 2nd January 2018 and identified every parent’s worst nightmare, Amelia had a Tumour, almost the size of a golf ball but was possibly active, so further growth was most certainly going to happen, the headaches that Amelia had previously had was caused by fluid build-up because of the pressure that the tumour was causing.
The news was absolutely devastating for all, to be honest it took a while for the diagnoses to sink in, maybe in denial.
The diagnoses had been shared with Kings Collage Hospital who wanted Amelia transferred to them at the earliest, it seemed that within minutes Amelia was in an Ambulance and being taken to them. Once we had all arrived in London to speak to the Neurologists it then became clear on how critical Amelia’s situation is, Amelia would die.
She had emergency surgery to drain fluid from her brain and later within January 2018, had an Operation to remove the Tumour, unfortunately not all of the Tumour could be removed due to the location as it had attached itself to the brain stem.
‘I had a break down, but made sure Amelia didn’t see me cry, needed to be strong for her’
Unfortunately for Amelia, the remaining tumour required monitoring, because of the possibility of further growth, so visits were arranged with Kings Collage Hospital, this included 3 monthly visits to start, then changed to 6 monthly and eventually 9 monthly as there appeared to be no or little activity.
News from Amelia’s latest MRI scan was devastating, the remaining Tumour is active, so action is required and another Operation at this stage is not an option, so due to her age and body development, Chemo Therapy is our only option at this stage.
Amelia requires 18 months of Chemo Therapy and is now approx. 2 months into the treatment, this includes local visits for treatment and every 3 weeks to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, London. The treatment is having a negative impact on Amelia’s body with some good days but unfortunately some very bad days, resulting in staying over night in Hospital because of high temperatures etc as her body tries to cope with the Chemo.
‘We can only be strong for her throughout the treatment’
As Amelia is visiting The royal Marsden for treatment and the great effort all NHS staff have provided throughout the last couple of years, I felt that the time is right to give something back, by raising funds for the Children’s Centre at The Royal Marsden.
I am fortunate enough to have three very close friends who have been supportive throughout and will also be involved in raising as much money as possible, they are Jason Parnham, Paul Hubbard and Darrel Brown. We will be shaving off our hair (head hair) in a few week’s, we wanted to get the ball rolling and get the word out there, let’s get people interested.
Money raised will be going to The Oak Cancer Centre for Children and Young People at The Royal Marsden, Surrey.
Please click on the link below to donate, anything you donate will surely help!

Any donations please would be much appreciated.