Starting school... girl, 4, who beat brain tumour as large as an orange
A GIRL of four who had a brain tumour the size of an orange removed as a baby is preparing to start school.
Lyra Cole was five months old when she underwent emergency surgery after sparking alarm by losing her appetite and developing a rash.
She was diagnosed with a virus but her parents Ellie Hawkes and Dan Cole refused to accept that, particularly after she started vomiting two or three times a day.
The family, of Highbridge, Somerset, say a family doctor told them four times that Lyra’s virus would clear up.
Shock
Unhappy with the diagnosis, they took Lyra to hospital, where she was given a computerised tomography (CT) scan.
Mr Cole, 36, an engineer with energy company EDF, said: “This revealed she had a tumour the size of a small orange growing in the back of her brain.
“Ellie and I were numb and in total shock. Although we didn’t believe she had a virus, we never in our worst dreams thought it would be this.” Lyra was diagnosed with a low-grade rare form of brain tumour that can particularly affect infants and was rushed to hospital in Bristol where she had an operation the next morning that lasted 11 hours.
It was successful but within months she was struggling to see due to a cyst growing on her optic nerve.
A second operation then restored her sight.
Mr Cole said: “When she came round and was back on the ward, Lyra looked happy and, instead of looking through us, actually looked at us.
“She reached out to touch Ellie’s eyelashes – a lovely moment.”
Lyra now has a 17-month-old brother Charlie and loves being a big sister.
The charity Brain Tumour Research said: “Sadly, positive stories like this are nowhere near common enough.
“Fewer than 20 per cent of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years, compared with an average of 50 per cent of all cancers.” Excited Lyra Cole is about to start school and loves being a big sister to her younger brother Charlie