Christopher's Story - Page 1 of 5

Christopher, or Kip as we all called him, came into this world on his due date, 25th April 1998. He was a perfect baby, so easy and contented and he grew into a lovely, loving, affectionate toddler. Everyone who met him said what a special little boy he was.

Christopher was a normal healthy happy little boy, or so we thought. We weren't aware of any problems until January 2001 when he started having asbsences or seizures - he was two years old. He was given medication and the seizures stopped much to our relief.

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Taken at Walsgrave Hospital where he had most of his chemo

It wasn't until towards the end of March that he became really unwell, complaining of a headache, vomiting and being really drowsy and uninterested in his toys.

After a short stay in hospital and a CT scan it was discovered that he had a large brain tumour and needed immediate surgery. He was transferred by ambulance to Birmingham Children's Hospital and on 31st March 2001 he underwent an 8 hour operation to remove the tumour.

It was decided that he should start chemotherapy shortly after the surgery and he had chemo every 3 weeks which usually involved a stay in hospital for up to 4 days at a time.

Even though he was having chemotherapy he was amazingly well. He wasn't ill from the chemo and was a happy active child and was back at playgroup and doing all the activities that a normal 3 year old would do.

Most of his chemotherapy was given at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry as it is much closer to where we live and there was such a shortage of beds at Birmingham Children's Hospital. There's nothing worse than getting yourself ready both physically and emotionally for a stay in hospital only to be told that there is no bed available!

Katherine singing Angel in Waiting in memory of her brother.