Dinesh and Chanelle's Family Story

We are Dinesh and Chanelle from Bicester, Oxfordshire. We have 2 boys, aged 6 and 4.

In April of this year, while on holiday in South Africa, our 6 year old started to feel unwell with bouts of being sick.

Initially we put it down to a tummy bug or something he had eaten while on holiday as he recovered fairly quickly. However upon our return to the UK he had recurring episodes of being sick without any other symptoms of a tummy bug or food poisoning.

Over the period of 9 weeks there were many hospital and GP visits to find out what was wrong with him, and then on 12 June he had an MRI and we got the devastating news that he had a large tumour in his brain, close to his brain stem, and that he would need surgery as soon as possible.

On 16 June he went into theatre for a gruelling 10 hour long surgery to remove the tumour. Despite losing some physical abilities as a result of the surgery, he show incredible strength and resilience during this time. A couple weeks after his surgery we got another blow, his tumour was cancerous and aggressive.

He was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, and he is only 1 of around 52 children diagnosed in the UK each year, so it is incredibly rare.

Since then he has had to endure 6 weeks of radiation treatment, where he had to be put under general anaesthetic each day for the 6 weeks.

Our family had to relocate to London to do this, all while the school year was starting and our youngest was due to go into Reception year, a big milestone for him in all of this.

It was hugely disruptive and very challenging to be away from home. Again, he withstood all of it with immense strength and maturity beyond his years. At the end of October, he began what will be 8 months of gruelling chemotherapy, lasting into the summer of next year. He is missing large chunks of school, and missing out on so much social interaction. In addition to that, due to his compromised immunity, he rarely sees any other place than home or the hospital.

The Ben Saunders Foundation have been wonderful in offering us a respite break in their wonderful lodge, and will be a most welcome change of scenery for our boy. It will be a bit of joy in an otherwise horrible experience, so a big thank you to BSF for giving us this opportunity to step out of the cancer world for a weekend and just enjoy a break.