On the 18th of May 2024, I will be attempting the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge (within 12 hours) with a very close, dear and trusted friend, Mair. She was constant visitor at Alder Hey and a huge family support.

This weekend in May, signifies a life changing date for our little family.

On the 19th of May 2019, we were told "your son has a large mass in the back of his head" and that "your life will never be the same again from this day onwards"

Indeed, that actual mass turned out to be a Medulloblastoma brain tumour in Fynle's cerebellum. At that time Fynle was 7 years old.

He underwent 13.5 hours surgery, which left him paralysed and mute following surgery.

Surgery was followed by 6 weeks, 30 sessions of proton beam therapy under general anesthetic.

The final stage of treatment consisted of 10 months of grueling chemotherapy.

We met so many inspiring families on our journey, all experiencing such awful rollercoaster, heartbreaking and life changing journeys.

Fynle is now 12 and doing remarkably well, all considering. We live under the dark cloud of recurrence but we fully appreciate that we are very fortunate to have Fynle with us and thank our lucky stars every single day.

We cannot thank all the various medical and support teams throughout Fynle's treatment - we have met the most humbling and dedicated, caring professionals in every sector.

Raising funds and awareness for such underfunded research is critical. Every single penny is crucial and make's a huge difference.

We must talk about pediatric cancer and the lack of funding it receives and how treatment hasn't changed over decades.

Thankyou for reading our family story, it is difficult to convey the lifechanging, heartbreaking ordeal it has been in just a few words, but we are determined to make a little difference and continue to raise funds and awareness where we can.

3 Key facts on brain tumours:

• Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer

• Just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease

• Less than 20% of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years compared with an average of 50% across all cancers

Thankyou

Nerys