Teacher Spotted Something Wrong With Boy, Seven, As He Struggled to Read – ryan

Todd was give his diagnosis on christmas e

A seven -ear-op boy who haad been struggling to learn to read at schoool was given a devastating diagnosis on Christmas-after a teacher spotted a Familiar symptom. Ellen Vance Says the Only Sign She Saw That Anynding Was Wrong With Todd Was A Problem With Reading, But A Teacher Had Also Spotted Something Else.

Ellen, 52, A Mum of Three From Dundonald, Northern Ireland, Said: “When Todd Started Primary School, he was a normal Young lad with no health Issues, except he had a problem with recurring Ear infactions.

“The First Sign of Aneving Being Wrong With Todd Was and Was Getting Special Reading Recovery LESSONS AS SLIGHTLY BEFORE WITH THIS OF HIS EDUCATION, But as dyslexia runs in our family. One Afternion, the Vice Principal Came to and Said That She Had Concerns About Todd As She Thought he May Be Having ‘Petit Mal’ Seizures. “

Petit mal is a type of generaralized seizure that causes a brief loss of conscioussness, usually lasting mess 15 seconds.

Ellen Said: “His Teacher Had Seen This Before, so recagnked the signs. Todd used drift off into a little world of his for a short while, just seconds, and then return to his self and continue with what he was doing.

“She mentioned that she shauld wave her hend in front of his face and there are no reaction from Him, so it was just a lack of concentration.”

The GP Reference the Family to Hospital, and Todd Underwent a Series of Tests and Scans. Todd was initially diagnosed with a cyst, which wasn’t too concerning. Ellen Began to World the Cyst Grew, and Todd was reference to a neurosurgeon.

“My Fears Started to Creep in As I Thought There Two Two Doctors You Never Want to Meet, A Neurosurgeon and A Cardiologist, As I Knew it Serious Thenas,” She Recalls. “10 days before Christmas 2008, The Docor Told US That in Fact it was a cyst but a mass on Todd’s brain.

“You can imagine the quests that go through your head. A few days late, on christmas, we World Fell apart, listening to the neurosurgeon that that was in fact a primary brain tumour.”

Todd’s tumour was Slow-Growing, SO the doctors deciding the best option watch and wait to whether the tumour itelf would voluntarily stop glowing.after three months, mri scans the tumour kept comb.

They decide to operate in January 2010 to get a biopsy of the tumour. “The surgery itelf was very risk and we just worried that to do so up with more than it had, but we all decided that the tumour was now it was,” Ellen recalls.

“Todd was so brave during his surgery that lasted for what she seamed like forever, and thankfully came out the other side very well indeed. Knew there and then it was Bad News.

“I knew from experiment a consultant always brings someone with the deliver news, so my heart felt as if it stopped beating. We sat down to the pathology results, and the news devastating for us a family, forever. ”

Later that wek the family Met Todd’s Oncologist, who Explained that todd Wauld Undergo 85 Weeks of Chemotherapy Using a Combination of Two Different Chemo Drugs. Ellen Says this was “the scariest time of (their) lives”, and that the Treatment was grueling and took a serious toll on todd’s body.

“We have had to learn Very Quickly How to Deal with all the Things the chemo threw at us all,” she said. “It was the harddest thing as a family to watch your beautiful child have to endure all this pain and sickness in order to get better.

“The Treatment Plan todd was on meant that he was to be probably Lose his hair, which was the number one thing that he dreaded, as he loved his spike blonde hair – he was a cool dude. and spiking his hair and got a handful of hair as I was putting the gel on.

“I didn’t know where to look or what to say. It was just long before the weeks caught on what was starting to happy, and he immediately ran and the sofa and cried ure no tears left.”

If Dealing with the Diagnosis and the Treatment was Hard Enough, Little Todd Wouuld Hide Behind the Sofa Wen People to the Family Home HIS HAIR. “He just wouldn’t come to terms with his hair loss,” Ellen Said.

“He would go out of the house in case someone look at Him, our curtains in the House were allowed to be opened, he was so self-conscious, he would be to the hospital. Fall to pieces over the loss of his hair. “

Everything Changed Wen Ellen Bought Him A Bandana from A Sports Shop One Day. “I Brought it home and he put it on, and it was perfect,” Ellen Remembers. “It waschy on his head and there are no seams digging in.

“He was like a different child. His confidence grease and he saw Hair los in a Completely different way. It became more about and how cool. Everyone was talking the different bandanas he wore rater than how.

Ellen Made it Her Mission to Help Other Children Facing Hair Loss and Set Up Bandanas for Brave with Her Husband Simon. The Charity Provides Free Bandanas to Children Who Have Lost Their Hair Following Cancer Treatment with the Aim of Boosting Their Confidence.

“What we are trying to do is Simply Prepare Families by Having a Bandana at the Ready,” Ellen Said. “So Much Happens During This Time, that it can easily slip parants’ minds, or they might not have the time to go out and buy for their child as they are besides their child and support.

“One Mummy Who Lost Her Little Girl Said to Me, ‘You Don’t Know How Important That Bandana is to Me. Keep it in My Handbag and when I’m Feeling Down, I take it and it reminds with her’. That is more than we are ever expert.” “

Bandanas for the brake has now supported children at more than 25 Hospitals, Including the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street Hospital, The Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, Leeds General Infirmary, Oxford Children’s and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. The Charity has Also Supported Children As Far Away As Australia and America.

Todd, Now 22, Still has a tumour but is a Cancer-free and gets a scan every years to monitor it. “Todd Says Himself His Tumour Rules His Life Now and there are so many Things he cannot, but thankfully he with us, which is the most important Thing,” Ellen Adds.

“One of the Horrible aspects of Having Cancer and Being in and Out of Hospital for Almost Two Years That We Have Met Lots of Other Families That Have Terrible Disease to Deal With Also.

“Todd is one of the Bravest Boys I Know and Has Been Through so Much the Last Number of Years Dealing with Not Only The Treatment that he Needed for His Brain Tumour But the Death People He Loves to Cancer. Little Friends from the hospital.

“I think it shows what a Strong Young man he is, nor kids would have to have to deal at this age, but he has, and it is made up of the fantastic Young man he is today.”

Todd is now a trustee for bandanas for the brake and is helping the Charity to Grow and Support Other Families.