Charlotte’s fight helped by blood

AT JUST six-years-old Charlotte Grice is already a fighter, conquering a tumour in her brain discovered when she was only one.

Her mum, Rebecca, said her daughter had been diagnosed with epilepsy when she was six-months-old, with her severe condition getting worse quickly.

“We were taken down to hospital in Brisbane where she underwent MRIs, CTs, and just lots of testing,” Mrs Grice said.

“They found Charlotte’s brain hadn’t developed during birth at some point and then her seizures got really bad, 60 to 70 a day.”

Charlotte underwent her first surgery at about 13 months, to find the cause of her seizures, with pathology tests confirming a grade two tumour in her brain.

“After that first surgery, Charlotte got a massive infection on the brain and was rushed to have further surgery,” she said.

“Because she was so little and so fragile when she had her first two surgeries, they did a small blood transfusions to keep her immunity system and everything running as it should be.”

Without blood transfusions, Mrs Grice doesn’t know how good her daughter’s recovery would have been. In time for National Blood Donor Week, June 11-17, she is calling on the community to give up a small amount of time and donate to help others like Charlotte and herself, who had two transfusions birthing two or her four children.

“Look at it as something good that costs you nothing. Just an hour of your time which I am sure we all have,” she said.

“We have a Team Charlotte, which is a blood bank team so everyone can go in there and donate blood on behalf on her.”

Charlotte’s last surgery was in 2014 and was a 15-hour operation to remove tissue, tumour and lesions.

The small tumour still left in her brain is Grade two but has stopped growing. While she can’t be in remission until there is no change for four years, she is now on six-monthly checks, which is a good sign.

”These little kids they fight, because they don’t know how to give up,” she said.

❝Look at it as something good that costs you nothing. — Rebecca Grice

PHOTO: KEVIN FARMER DONATE NOW: Rebecca Grice and her daughter Charlotte, six, are encouraging people to give blood as part of National Blood Donor Week after blood transfusions helped save Charlotte’s life.