By Jake Meeus-Jones via SWNS
A little girl was diagnosed with a brain tumor after she started throwing up sporadically.
Charlotte Carrington, seven, was diagnosed with a pilocytic astrocytoma tumor when she couldn’t stop being sick.
After being blue-lighted to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), Charlotte underwent a 10-hour operation to remove the benign tumor aged just four.
Charlotte’s parents, Clare, 40, and Scott, 40, were told there was just a five per cent chance of the tumor returning but six months later scans showed it had grown back.
Charlotte underwent 16 months of chemotherapy and she is now stable and able to return to normal life.
She and her family are now planning to run the RBC Race for the Kids on October 12, 2024 to raise money towards building the new world-leading Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH.
Clare, a finance worker, from Romford, Essex, said: “Everything is good at the moment.
“The last scan was stable and you don’t want to say your life is back to normal, but it has been.
“Suddenly it’s not part of our lives, you’re not constantly worrying.
“She’s back at school full-time and like every other seven-year-old.
“Every time we’ve had a scan, our odds have improved.
“Hopefully it’s behind us now – it’s a very surreal feeling to be normal again.
“It does change you as a person.”
Charlotte’s symptoms began in the Easter of 2021 when she started being sick sporadically and began dragging her legs.
She added: “She’d be sick in the morning randomly and then over eight weeks it started happening more with other symptoms as well.
“It was coming out of Covid so it was difficult to get appointments.
“Initially they say it could be different things such as acid reflux or anxiety and it took two months to get a diagnosis.
“They tell you it might be this or might be that and you can see her getting worse and worse – it’s frustrating and worrying.
“We were devastated but at the same time we could breathe.”
After being blue-lighted to GOSH in June 2021, Charlotte had the tumor removed.
Clare said: “It was very positive after and they were pleased with how it went.
“At that point, they said they thought it was benign.
“We were told there would be a lot of swelling on the brain and she couldn’t walk properly at that point.
“She had a feeding tube and lost the use of one side of her body.
“Results then confirmed it was benign and she was improving in her health.
“She had some physio and gradually built up strength.
“She was discharged and so much stronger.”
With Charlotte back at home, Clare and Scott believed their daughter’s ordeal was over.
But six months later, their worst fears came true when scans showed the tumor had returned.
Clare said: “We felt lucky, we thought we could put it all behind us and move forward and wait for the scars to heal.
“It was a complete bolt and knocked us for six. We weren’t expecting it at all, it was really hard.
“We were told it was still benign but there was regrowth and because it was so close to the brain stem they couldn’t reoperate so the only option was chemotherapy.
“They then told us she’d need 18 months of chemotherapy in January.
“We didn’t know what to expect. You’re then bombarded with information.
“Great Ormond Street were fantastic but it is very overwhelming.”
Despite the sudden change in routine, Charlotte and her family were able to adapt quickly.
Clare said: “We have two other children and we were adamant that we wanted their lives to be as normal as possible.
“We’re fortunate to have flexible jobs and we adapted and it just became life.
“It just became routine, as much as you don’t want it to be.
“The hardest part was seeing her get very weak very quickly.
“She became very thin and a shadow of herself.
“She was very pale and her hair thinned – it fell out later down the line.
“She was taking anti-sickness and having blood transfusions.
“Her school was fantastic and we were very fortunate in that aspect.
“It was lovely that they kept her involved but she did miss a lot of school – a lot of the fun things as well as the everyday things.”
After 16 months, Charlotte was able to stop her chemotherapy in May 2023 when two scans showed her condition had stabilized.
Clare said: “For six months after, she was still quite susceptible to illness and needed to build up her strength and her fitness levels.
“But everything is good at the moment!”
Now seven years old, Charlotte is doing really well and her family will be running this year’s RBC Race for the Kids to raise money for GOSH Charity, with the family “very keen to give back to the hospital”.
The funds raised for this year’s RBC Race for the Kids are going towards building the new world-leading Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH, which will help more children like Charlotte with digitally advanced inpatient wards, cutting-edge imaging technology and state-of-the-art treatment facilities.
