Hi, my name is George and I’m 3 ½ years old. I don’t have a lot of strength these days, I feel very tired for some reason, and I’m always sick every morning. My Daddy says it’s because I’ve not had my anti-sickness medicine. My favourite things are watching YouTube in bed, with Daddy brushing my hair and tickling me and speaking to my cat cousins on video each day! Daddy tells me I watch too many Peppa Pig videos and that I’ll get square eyes, but it makes my poorly head feel better. I like going to the park to ride my scooter and Daddy says when I get stronger, I can do this again. Recently I lived in Manchester and went to the Proton Beam Therapy Centre every day, which scared me at first but after a while I loved the magic milk they gave me every day as it sent me to sleep for hours. My Daddy wants to say something now so I’ve got to go…. Bye.

Hi, My name is Daman, George’s Dad.

2024 Started as a normal year for us as a family, but in early July, following a period of sickness and headaches, George was rushed to the Queens Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham (UK). On 8th July 2024, MRI scans delivered our worst nightmare, when George was diagnosed with a large malignant brain tumour called a medulloblastoma. Thankfully, the QMC is leading in children’s brain tumours and has specialist paediatric neurology and oncology Consultants ready to take on George’s case.

We knew nothing of the challenges, and the rollercoaster we would go on, to not just make George well, but to actually save George’s life. We soon realised that when faced with this life changing situation, there is no alternative but to get through one day at a time; battle every single minute of the day to tackle each twist and turn and every problem head on.

George underwent major brain surgery to remove the tumour on 23rd July, followed by four other brain operations to help his brain drain correctly. George has taken every single step of this brutal journey in his stride; he brings joy, smiles, kindness and love to all those who meet him and we couldn’t be prouder of him. So far he has endured countless needles, operations, CT scans, MRI scans, lumbar punctures, and daily bloods, as this was the norm during our 8 weeks by his side at the QMC.

Despite the extreme suffering that children and parents have to endure in this process, we have tried to maintain as much positivity as possible on those really tough days as we could see George slipping into his own world. Eventually, we had some good news that George’s tumour was believed to have not spread elsewhere in his body. This meant George was given the opportunity to receive the latest Proton Beam Radiotherapy, at one of only two facilities in the UK, at Christy’s Hospital in Manchester. We say opportunity, as many children on the same journey as us didn’t have the same treatment option as George and leaving those children and parents behind at QMC was heartbreaking. Upon leaving QMC our whole family headed 2-hours away to Manchester to live in an apartment for six weeks. George bravely underwent 30 proton beam radiotherapy treatments to his head and spine under general anaesthesia, every single day, to try and kill off any remaining cancerous cells. Before Proton Therapy came to the UK, standard radiotherapy was used, often leaving children with lifelong learning difficulties and physical disabilities, so we felt lucky we were able to receive this treatment. George accepted these daily treatments like a true hero and came through ticking all the right boxes; so far he seems OK apart from lots of sickness and hair loss. His height will be compromised as he grows and maybe hearing loss but it’s a price worth paying to save our precious little boy.

Since July, George has now endured 45 general anaesthetics, 30 lots of bloods, 60 days in hospital, 30 proton beam therapy sessions, not to mention a central line into his heart, feeding tubes in his nose and stomach, fertility operations and a whole lot of observations every four hours, day and night.

Our amazing little boy George lights up a room with his smile; he is comical, super bright and sets an example to us all how to treat people with love and kindness. George is not out the woods yet and in December 2024, seven months of chemotherapy will commence, with the final outcome as yet unknown, as this long journey continues.

The reason for sharing George’s story is to raise awareness of why so many poorly children in a similar situation need our help. It is clear from our experience to date, that children’s brain cancers are not being researched to the same level as other cancers, and up until recently, the survival rate was bleak. The surgeons are fantastic, the proton therapy specialists are fantastic, but they are only as good as the tools and medicines the researchers have developed for them.

For this reason, we are raising money for the leading UK centre for Children’s Brain Tumours, operated by The Nottingham University, in conjunction with the Queens Medical Centre. They have made great strides to gain a better understanding at a molecular level of children’s brain cancers and need our help in funding to maintain this vital work. Details of their work can be found here:

https://www.cbtrc.org/our-research/our-research.aspx

So please, family, friends. colleagues, and even kind strangers, on behalf of George, we’d love you to dig deep, push hard on your challenges, share our story and let’s raise money for this vital research to help save lives of those children with this terrible cancer right now and for those diagnosed in the future.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts… George, Daman and family.