A five-year-old girl from St Neots in Cambridgeshire was diagnosed with a brain tumour just 12 hours after having an eye test at Specsavers. Phoebe Carpenter had been suffering from sickness and severe headaches since February. After several months, her GP suggested she had migraines and told her to keep a symptoms diary.
In May, her mother Katie, 41, decided to get Phoebe’s eyes tested. On their way home from the appointment, the optician called to say that, after speaking to his senior, they should go straight to A and E at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. Katie said: “I felt like we were probably wasting the hospital’s time because Phoebe was running around playing like normal but, looking back, she was probably the sickest kid there.”
CT scan reveals brain tumour
After a CT scan, Katie was told that Phoebe had a brain tumour. She said: “I fell apart and just sobbed and sobbed. I kept thinking, how am I going to tell her dad and the other children? I kept asking if Phoebe would survive but the doctors said they were unable to answer that at that time which is the worst thing in the world as a parent.”
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet, to date, just 1 per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease since records began in 2002. More than 100,000 people are estimated to be living with a brain tumour or the long-term impact of their diagnosis.
Surgery and recovery
After having a CT scan in May, Phoebe had a drain inserted to relieve the pressure on her brain caused by a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid, known as hydrocephalus. The following day, she underwent a resection in which “most” of the tumour was removed during a 10-hour procedure. It was confirmed that the brain tumour was a pilocytic astrocytoma.
Katie said: “Phoebe is amazing. She went back to school three weeks after her operation. She did a few hours at first, then she went back for a few days; by the end of term she had done a full week. She now wears glasses which are mega strong but she's very comfortable wearing them.”
“Being told Phoebe had a brain tumour was the worst feeling in the world but now we just feel so incredibly lucky because it could have been a whole different story. She could have needed to have treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, but she didn’t need that. If it's just that she now has bad eyesight and wears glasses, then so be it. We are hopeful that this is the end of it but we have seen just how quickly your life can change.”
Fundraising and research
Katie recently completed Brain Tumour Research’s 88 Squats in July challenge to raise vital funds and awareness for the disease. She said: “I just felt like I needed to do something to give back after the amazing care Phoebe received. We just feel so lucky. Funding for research into brain tumours is so important because this really could happen to anyone. You never think something like this will happen to you, but it does.”
Phoebe is now under surveillance and will have her first check-up MRI scan in November. Dr Karen Noble, director of research and policy at Brain Tumour Research, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Katie for raising vital awareness by sharing Phoebe's story. The current funding for research is insufficient to deliver new, more effective treatments. That is why we are campaigning for governments to increase the national investment in research into brain tumours to at least £45m per year.”
