Help children with a brain tumour

Brain tumours are the most common tumours that develop in children. They can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Malignant tumours are most likely to cause problems by causing pressure and damage to the areas around them and possibly spreading to other parts of the brain.

When a child is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour (brain cancer) their life becomes full of fear, for them and their family. Fear of treatment, but also of families being torn apart, overwhelming money worries, of having nowhere to turn, no one to talk to.

Young Lives vs Cancer help children and young people with cancer, including brain tumours get the right support at the right time.

Nancy was diagnosed with a brain tumour at just one year old. Her family noticed something wasn’t right when she kept being sick for no reason. This then progressed to tremors in her right arm and she went back to a newborn baby state – unable to eat or drink by herself or crawl.

Her mum Gemma said: “It was soul destroying. They told us that the tumour had taken over the left side of her brain and nothing could be done”.

What Young Lives vs Cancer Do

Today, 12 children and young people will hear the news that they have cancer. In an instant, their whole world can feel like it’s turned upside down.

Playtime is stopped. Independence is taken. Confidence is stolen. It can result in years of education missed, careers put on hold just as they’re starting. It’s watching countless opportunities pass by as debt begins to pile up. The impact of cancer on young lives is more than medical. That’s why we exist.

Young Lives vs Cancer is the only charity in the UK with specialist social workers who provide tailored support to children and young people with cancer, and their families.  We help them to navigate the emotional and practical impact of cancer. And we stop at nothing to make their voices heard and their unique needs understood, so they can get the right care and support at the right time.