It has taken over two years for doctors to tell us Kieran has cancer in his brain... I do not want any other kid to wait so long

Family of brave teenager on how shock news turned their world upside down

A Perth schoolboy has been diagnosed with cancerous brain tumours, despite experiencing worrying symptoms for over two years.

Kieran Thow (15), who attends Perth Grammar School and his family have recently been given the news he is suffering from two cancerous tumours on his brain.

However, Kieran was initially told he was suffering from anorexia and anxiety, despite experiencing a number of issues for nearly three years. His family, who live in Luncarty, now want to make sure no one else has such a serious condition misdiagnosed for so long.

Dad Graeme explained how it all started: “It was three years ago in July we started noticing eating problems. Kieran has never had a problem eating, but we noticed changes like him not really wanting to eat, but nothing too dramatic.

“We started to investigate it and we were referred to CAMHS in Perth for six months and we got nowhere. My wife felt she was being interrogated because they thought it was because of an issue at school or problems with the family.

“But his weight plummeted and over Christmas we found food all over his bedroom — he was not eating it.

“We were referred to CAMHS in Dundee in January this year and they diagnosed him straight away with anorexia nervosa, but they also said he was dehydrated but I couldn’t possibly see how that could happen because he drinks so much.

“But then he started to deteriorate very quickly and he started seeing double.”

Despite pleas from the family for Kieran to be admitted to hospital, it wasn’t until their own family doctor asked for specific blood tests it was discovered there was a problem.

In March Kieran was admitted to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where he immediately got a MRI scan, which found two tumours on his brain.

Dad Graeme continued: “Our whole world has been turned upside down, it was the last thing we ever expected.

“We were like rabbits caught in headlights. We were sent straight to the Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh. They were absolutely amazing — if I won the lottery tomorrow all the money would go there. The specialists there realised straight away what the problem was.”

Kieran and his dad and mum Mandy can now stay at the special CLIC Sargent villa in Edinburgh so they are close by the hospital for his treatment.

The tumours have caused Kieran’s pituitary gland to become damaged, which is what has caused his eating and dehydration problems over the past few years.

The Edinburgh hospital have since put him on hormone tablets to help regulate the gland, and he now has glasses with a prism to help his eyesight.

It has also caused him to be adrenaline deficient, and now needs injections if he were to have an accident.

Graeme added: “I have gone through the anger and the blaming stage. The main priority is to get Kieran right again. But this will need to be investigated.

“A parent knows their own child. You know something is wrong when he doesn’t want to go out to the park or he is falling asleep because he has no energy. “It has been a lot to deal with. “He has had neurosurgery where they operated in his skull to drain fluid and take samples. That’s when we were told they were cancerous. It was pretty traumatic.

“He will get four sessions of chemotherapy and then they will scan his brain again before he gets radiotherapy.

“But the prognosis is good and we are hopeful the chemo will shrink the tumours. There are a lot of people at the sick kids hospital who are a lot less fortunate than us. We have to be positive because it is a terrible thing he is going through.

“He has had to grow up so quickly.”

Since the diagnosis, Kieran’s family have rallied around to support him and raise money for charity, along with Graeme’s work Easy Trim Roofing.

He added: “When he came home from the hospital his brothers Ryan and Daniel and I all got our heads shaved. His hair has pretty much gone now and every day he wakes up with a little bit less.

“And his oldest brother’s girlfriend Hannah is pregnant and she is due in June. But she will be doing Cancer Research’s Pretty Muddy 10k in September just after giving birth — that’s where it all kicked off.

“Cancer will always get charity, but it’s different when it is Kieran who is going through it. She set up a fundraising page and she already has over £1000. She only expected to raise £300.

“Easy Trim also made contact with Chelsea FC and they have said he can go and meet the players once his treatment has finished. He is over the moon.”

Contact has also been made with Red Bull Formula 1 Racing and Lego by Graeme’s work as well to see if they too can support Kieran.

Kieran will now go through four sessions of chemotherapy in a bid to shrink his two tumours.

To support his family’s charity efforts for Cancer Research, visit their fundraising page via https:// fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/ page/hannahs-race-for-life-2952

I have gone through the anger and blaming stage. The main priority for me right now is to get Kieran right again