Little Rylee woke up one morning limp on her left side. This didn’t go away, so her mum, Nikki, took her to the doctor. She was immediately sent to the local hospital for an MRI scan.
“We were then given the devastating news that Rylee had a brain tumour,” Nikki said.
Rylee was taken to RCH for surgery. She haemorrhaged and the tumour could not be removed. The biopsy confirmed medulloblastoma a malignant brain tumour. Rylee began four cycles of radical chemotherapy to reduce the tumour before a second operation removed most of what was left.
Rylee now has a permanent shunt inserted into her head to drain the fluids. She has also undergone six weeks of radiation to ensure that the area where the tumour sat is dead. Rylee has regular physiotherapy and occupational therapy and will undergo scans, oral chemotherapy at home, a long maintenance program and then ongoing checks for the rest of her life.
“Our oncologist told us that if this had happened 10 years ago, we would’ve been told there was nothing they could do,” said Nikki.
“I thought about my older kids who are 13 and 12, what if it had happened to them?”
“How do these terrible cancers pick their children? I hope that in time with the amount of research that is being done they we can ensure that these cancers have no choice to make.”
mum on Tuesday 7 December, 2010