Just after Mitchell turned 3, in November 2016, he started vomiting a little, not often and it seemed to be for no reason.  In December, we noticed that Mitchie started to become a bit wobbly when he was walking and he had developed a slight shake in his right hand.  We took Mitchie to our local GP who prescribed Gaviscon for the sickness, she couldn't see any signs of the wobbliness or the shake so wasn't concerned. We tried the Gaviscon for 3 days and it didn't help. I knew in my gut that this needed further investigation, however, we were then into the Christmas / New Year Eve period and getting an appointment in the GP was tricky.  We managed to get back in for another appointment on the 3rd of January, we saw a different GP and a second also came in.  They asked Mitch to perform some simple tasks such as touch his finger to his nose, which he could not do with his right hand.  The GP sent us to Royal Preston Hospital for an MRI scan the same day.  

 

At 5.30 that evening, the doctor drew the curtains around us and told us they had found a brain tumour.  We sat in shock and disbelief for over 3 hours while waiting for an ambulance to take us to Manchester Childrens Hospital.  A consultant saw us at 3am the following morning and told us not to worry, Mitchie would just need an operation to remove the tumour and all would be fine.  Later that day, they told us that actually, besides the one large tumour in his brain, Mitchie also had lots of little ones around his brain and his spine was riddled with tumours.  Further treatment would be required but we needed to wait to know what the tumours were.  A 9 hour operation took place the next day in which the largest tumour was removed, the operation was successful, however, we didn't know what state Mitchie would be in when he woke up.  When he did, he was unable to sit up by himself or to walk.  A day later, we were taken back into the dreaded room there we were told MItchie had Medulloblastoma a very aggressive form of brain cancer.  Mitchie needed 6 weeks of brain and spine radiotherapy at The Christie, 30 sessions of treatment each performed under general anaesthetic.  Mitch was allowed a 6 week break to let his body rest before chemotherapy started.  He was admitted back into the RMCH on the 21st April to begin chemo.  He had 4 treatments of chemo, each lasting 4 weeks. With each treatment, Mitchie was neutropenic, meaning he had to be in isolation as his immune system was extremely poor.  

 

I am very pleased to say that Mitchie rang the End of the Treatment Bell on the 3rd of August!  However, we then had to await results of a hearing test, an eye test, an MRI scan, a kidney function test and a lumbar puncture.  These were all to see if the treatment had worked and also to see what damage had been done.  Mitchie's eyes are still good.  His hearing has been damaged by one of the chemo drugs and hearing aids will be needed.  His kidney function is normal and thankfully, the MRI scan and lumbar puncture found no signs of any disease!!  This is not the end of our journey though.  Tests and scans will be needed regularly for the rest of Mitchies life.  He is having 2 sessions of physiotherapy each week to try and improve his walking.  But he is here.  And he is home. 

 

One big thing I will say is to trust your instinct.  Always.