“I was scared. I didn’t know what would happen next. As with any parent, I would do anything and everything to help my child.”
Ann Ballard is no ordinary mum. And her young son Dominic, eight, is no ordinary little boy. In fact, the Uxbridge family have endured more pain and heartache than most experience in a lifetime.
Backing a major new awareness campaign, Ann has relived the devastating moment her adorable baby boy was in 2008 diagnosed with glioblastoma, an extremely aggressive form of brain tumour with a typically poor prognosis.
Dominic has lived with brain cancer since he was just four-months-old, and endured eight cycles of chemotherapy during just the first two years of his life.
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His symptoms initially went undiagnosed when he fell ill at just seven-weeks-old: “He wasn’t himself at all,” said mum Ann.
Doctors initially thought he had meningitis, but it wasn't until he had two MRI scans at a specialist unit the tumours were spotted.
"I just couldn’t believe my son had cancer,” said Ann. “We were told Dominic would need surgery to remove the tumour.
"But that he had to undergo a round of chemotherapy to reduce its size before they could operate. The news was just heartbreaking.”
Dominic's family are now firmly behind HeadSmart - a brain tumour symptom awareness campaign spearheaded by The Brain Tumour Charity.
“Despite having some sight problems and suffering emotionally at times, Dominic is doing so much better than anyone thought he would," said Ann.
“It has been very tough but having my family and Dominic’s sister to look after has helped us all get through this. He’s a real fighter.
“I’m backing the HeadSmart awareness campaign because no mum and no family should have to go through what we have. There needs to be more awareness of these symptoms in children.”
The campaign has already helped halve the time it takes to diagnose glioblastoma in children from 13 weeks to six-and-a-half.
More than 11,000 people a year are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour, including 500 children and young people.
Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killers of children and adults below the age of 40. Here is how to spot the symptoms.
Brain Cancer symptoms
- Persistent/recurrent headache
- Persistent/recurrent vomiting
- Balance/co-ordination/walking problems
- Abnormal eye movements
- Blurred or double vision
- Behaviour change
- Fits or seizures
- Abnormal head position such as wry neck, head tilt or stiff neck
- Increasing head circumference (crossing centiles)
- Delayed or arrested puberty
Symptoms vary across age groups. For more information, visit the Headsmart website.
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