I want to drive awareness of the side effects childhood cancer survivors have to deal with.
- Brodie-Lee, Felicity’s mum
Felicity hadn't even had her first birthday when her journey with cancer began. Treated for an extremely rare brain tumour, she will be dealing with the aftermath for the rest of her life.
Symptoms
Brodie and Adam noticed their 10-month-old daughter Felicity had a lazy eye. By one week before her first birthday, both Felicity's eyes were lazy and flickering, and her perception had deteriorated so much she started crawling into furniture.
The nurses at the local hospital took one look at Felicity and knew straight away her case was serious. Her parents were told to go home and pack for a week, then they travelled by ambulance to Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth.
Diagnosis
On Australia Day 2015, a scan at Princess Margaret Hospital showed up a mass on Felicity's brain that was putting pressure on her optic nerve. As soon as she found out the mass was on the brain, Brodie panicked.
An MRI revealed that the mass had components of three different types of tumours. However, doctors suspected it was a very rare brain tumour called craniopharyngioma.
I've studied psychology and I know how fragile the brain is. Any other area would have seemed more manageable.
- Brodie-Lee, Felicity’s mum
Treatment
By the time she went in for brain surgery, Felicity had lost her vision completely and the pressure on her brain was making her aggressive and frustrated. She became the first baby in Western Australia to undergo surgery for this type of tumour.
After treatment
The cancer and its treatment left Felicity with no vision in her left eye and at high risk of secondary health problems such as obesity and poor immunity. Brodie and Adam are strong advocates for medical research and want to help raise awareness of the debilitating side-effects often faced by childhood cancer survivors.
Felicity will be in rehabilitation for a long time and will need blood tests for the rest of her life.
- Brodie-Lee, Felicity’s mum
How you can help
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