Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to visit our just giving page. We hope you will donate to this wonderful cause and help save the lives of many children and adults in the future. 

On the 23rd of April 2023 James and I will take on the challenge of running the London Marathon for Brain Tumour Research. We are doing this in memory of our beautiful son George who passed away from a brain tumour, 10 years ago, aged just three and a half.

George is a twin to Austin and also has Oscar his older brother who was five when he passed away. 10 years feels like a very long time for us, our grief is something we’re still coming to terms with. We are learning to live and to manage on a daily basis with the enormous sadness of losing George. It’s not only had a monumental effect on us but our extended family and friends and of course our boys who were George's biggest fans. 

We are not a religious family but we do believe we have a strong connection still to George and look for all the signs he sends our way to let us know he’s still with us in all that we do.

George’s first symptom that something was amiss was on the 1st of April 2013, when he became wobbly walking after playing on the trampoline. That week then brought double vision and an unusual walk. 

We saw the doctor immediately who put it down to a virus and said to keep in touch. A few days later we returned to the doctors as George had fallen to the ground saying he felt wobbly, his walk just wasn’t his own and his voice sounded different to us he was suddenly sounding so much younger. 

I just knew something wasn’t right (mother’s intuition) and having googled his symptoms, I was directed to the Head Smart campaign from The Brain Tumour Charity. I showed the doctor the next day what I had found and he agreed we should take George for a CT scan at the local hospital, as it could be something more sinister. We went straight away and had his CT scan, we were then quickly given the all clear and sent home with another virus diagnosis and a plan to keep in touch with our local doctor if anything changed. 

The next week George developed a head tilt so I took him immediately for an eye test at Boots and the optician thought there was possibly a little bit of pressure built up at the back of his eye. I then booked an appointment for an optometrist that day who agreed and said he could definitely see the pressure built up  and rang the hospital immediately requesting an MRI scan. 

The optometrist's own words were “I really don’t know how you have got rid of this mum, she’s onto something here and knows something is wrong with her son”  . James and I rushed to the hospital with George, desperately hoping we were wrong and that our thoughts of a brain tumour were us getting carried away on Google. This was not to be the case unfortunately. 

We were quickly given the shocking news that the MRI scan had revealed a golf ball sized tumour at the back of his head that needed immediate treatment. We were transferred to Addenbrooks Hospital and placed on the oncology ward. The next day another scan revealed George’s cancer was not isolated to his brain but had also spread down his spine and it was completely encased.  

As Parents, it is without doubt the scariest thing you can ever be told. I can’t even begin to describe how terrified and helpless we felt at the time and still do now when we think back to all we went through as a family.  We had been catapulted into a world where suddenly we didn’t know if George was going to live or die. We were surrounded by other children with terrifying stories of cancers and tumours and we had two other little boys to look after and explain to, that George was very poorly and couldn’t come home. 

Our news continued to get worse and worse from there, we were told that George could have his tumour removed but he wouldn’t be able to have the radiotherapy he needed on his spine because he was too young and that chemotherapy had only a 2% chance of irradiating the cancer. Over the next two weeks in hospital, George had his tumour removed and was recovering slowly, the plan was to start chemotherapy, but on the day they planned this, a new MRI scan revealed that his tumour had already started to grow back with multiple others and not only that, he now had cancer in his brain fluid as well. Along with his spine encased in cancer we were told that we were fighting a fire that was totally unstoppable.  George had a very aggressive form for cancer and no matter what treatment was available he was incurable and his cancer was terminal.

There are no words to help me, help you understand the pain we felt knowing we were going to lose George. It’s a feeling of being completely helpless, shocked, angry, and sadder than you ever knew it  was possible to feel. All these feelings together are terrifying because you just don’t know what to do and nobody can help you any longer. 

We were given two options; to stay in the hospital and let George pass away there or take him home to be with us all until the end.  We brought him home and I can say to this day it’s still something I’m so proud of us for doing. We were lucky enough to have Keech Hospice care come to the house each day to help us manage George's pain and make him as comfortable as we could. 

We were told by the oncology doctors that George would only survive for another  three weeks and they were right. That’s all the time we had with him. In those three weeks at home though he knew one thing and that was, he was truly loved by us all and that no matter what, he always would be. We had so many cuddles and kisses and a little trip to feed the ducks with his brothers that he loved. He had all his favourite stories read to him and listened to his stories tapes right up to the very end. His passing on the morning of the 22nd of May was peaceful and almost beautiful really, as he slipped away in his sleep and looked almost like he was smiling when he went. All the pain disappeared from his face and we knew he was now at peace and pain free. A twinkling star forever in the night sky we like to believe 🌟💙

George had just over seven weeks from his first symptom to his passing. Every  time we think about this we wonder about all of the "What Ifs". As you can imagine it’s hard to accept the limited options we were given but we couldn’t change it in any possible way. 

What is still surprising and upsetting is that a decade ago the statistics were that brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other form of cancer and that still stands today!

10 years on and it feels like very little has changed. Brain Tumour Research only receives 1% of the national spend on cancer.  One in three people know someone effected by a brain tumour, and the National brain tumour research funding needs to increase by 35million a year to really make a difference.  While charities such as Brain Tumour Research, and the Brain Tumour Charity are doing as much as they can and are making progress every single day, it just never feels like enough.  Because of everything we have seen and been through, the thought that this will happen to other families because of a lack of funding and research into finding a cure for all the different tumours is just so hard to swallow and push to the back of our minds. 

So for George and every other child and adult that has had to deal with a brain tumour, we will put one foot in front of another thinking of you all. We are hoping we will raise more than our target amount of £10,000. Please do donate as little or as much as you can, because every single penny will make a big difference. And if you can’t donate then please do shout at the TV on the day supporting all the people running for causes close to their hearts. The positive vibes will somehow make it to the runners I’m sure.  

We are hoping to see lots of friends scattered around London cheering us on on the 23rd. Training has not come easy, we have been out re finding our running legs since November 22 in the dark, snow, ice, -6 degrees and more rain than I ever imagined we could have here in January.  So far I can tell you we are earning every single penny you donate in our training runs. Sometimes I think we have bitten off far more than we can chew, well I do anyway James will just do it because he’s capable of achieving anything and is the most determined person I know, where as I’m not I’m far more wimpy with moaning and groaning about all my new found aches and pains. I’m going to need James to help me mop up the river I will most probably cry while running and thinking of George it’s going to be emotional but something we need to do to mark the decade we have been without him. 

Here are 10 facts about George I would like to share with you all so you get to know what a little smasher he was. 

George loved to say cuddle, cuddle, cuddle 

His favourite film was Ice Age 3

His eyes were the most gorgeous blue colour 

He loved small cuddly teddies and his favourite was Mousy, who comes on many adventures with us representing George

His favourite book was the Three Billy Goats Gruff 

He was the craziest of the three boys 

He had two missing front teeth after he knocked them out 

He arrived 9 weeks early, having started labour much to his twin brother Austin’s disappointment at having to come out. 

He adored our cat Socks who now rests with him 

And finally, he played the harmonica brilliantly.

Thank you again for taking the time to read our story, we hope you can support us. 

Much love to you all

Us Rodds 

XXx🌟x

 Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.