The family of a 10-year-old living with life-long effects following her diagnosis with a brain tumour is sharing her story this Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Leah Martin was diagnosed with a high-grade medulloblastoma at the age of two. Her gruelling treatment has left her with long-term side effects, including problems with her speech and mobility, vision and hearing loss, as well as severe learning difficulties and growth issues due to hormonal deficiencies.
Leah’s mum Jo, who set up the Leah’s Fairy Fund Fundraising Group which has raised more than £24,000, said: “When Leah had an MRI scan which revealed a mass in her brain after her mobility had deteriorated alarmingly and she was barely speaking, I was terrified she might have cancer and that she wasn’t going to live.
“Although it turned out that Leah did have brain cancer, happily she is very much alive today and her tumour remains stable. But the sad reality is she can’t run or ride a bike, she can’t read or even write her own name and her learning difficulties mean that she doesn’t understand when it’s safe to cross the road, unless she’s at a pedestrian crossing and sees the little green man light up.”
The family were amongst those celebrating the recent news that research at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) could herald a breakthrough in the way that children with medulloblastoma are treated in the future. Click here to find out how we are building a specialist hub focused on paediatric brain tumour research at QMUL.
If you have been inspired by Leah’s story, please donate to help us get closer to our vision of finding a cure for all types of brain tumour, including childhood brain tumours.
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