A MOTHER whose four-year-old son died four months after being diagnosed with a brain tumour is campaigning for more funding and research into the disease.
Nadia Majid said she does not want other families to go through what her own did and is working with the charity Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness.
Four-year-old Rayhan started to get bad headaches and was being sick in October 2017 and Majid took him to four different GPs on six separate occasions, but said doctors told her he was fine.
The boy’s parents became so concerned that her husband Sarfraz took Rayhan to the A&E department at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow on December 12 where medical staff agreed it was not normal for a four-year-old to be having such sustained headaches.
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The following day, Rayhan had an MRI scan which revealed a three by four centimetre mass in the cerebellum. He then underwent a 10-hour operation, but all of the tumour could not be removed because it was touching the brainstem.
A few days later his parents were told that he needed six weeks of radiotherapy and four months of chemotherapy.
A pre-radiotherapy MRI scan revealed the original tumour had grown back, along with two new tumours in his brain.
Rayhan’s health deteriorated after problems with chemotherapy and he died in April 2018 with his parents by his side.
Majid, who has two other children aged four and 12, said: “We want to honour Rayhan and continue his legacy by raising awareness of brain tumours.
“We hope that a day comes where no parent has to stare down the barrel of such a poor prognosis for their child ever again.”
The family are being supported by local MP Anum Qaisar-Javed, who said: “Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer and it is essential that we do all we can to support young people and families who are living with these illnesses.”
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