12-hour brain tumour surgery saves Riley, 8
A BOY of eight was days from death when doctors found a brain tumour the size of a ping pong ball and removed it in a 12-hour operation.
Riley Quinn had surgery on Christmas Eve and is still in hospital, with parents Emily, 30, and Marc Brook, 28, taking turns to stay overnight with him.
Emily said: “The tumour had grown so large it was blocking the fluids. If it had grown any larger it would have been fatal.
“It’s terrible, he was just days away from dying – and that’s something that haunts me.”
Riley began suffering headaches in November and in December, as he waited for a scan, and began to be sick every time he ate.
He lost 5lb and was “looking like a skeleton”.
An emergency CT scan revealed the brain tumour and after an MRI he was taken for surgery.
Mum-of-three Emily, from Sheffield, said: “If we hadn’t got a CT scan when we did it could have gone so wrong and he would not be here with us today.
“It’s surreal. You see other parents going through it and you never think in a million years it would happen to you. We were so shocked, we never expected this.”
Most of the tumour was removed, but doctors at Sheffield Children’s Hospital are waiting for the results of a biopsy to learn whether or not it was benign.
The operation left Riley unable to speak, however medics believe he will make a full recovery and regain all of his cognitive abilities.
Emily said: “He is the chattiest little boy and now he has to speak to us with his thumbs and yet he is just carrying on.
“He’s so brave. To say we’re proud of him would not be enough.”
But in a warning to other parents, Emily said: “You never expect this to happen. He was never ill, he was a healthy boy. We want people to listen to the signs. If we hadn’t, he would not be here with us today.”