Paramedic took own daughter to hospital in his ambulance
A PARAMEDIC has told how he took his own daughter to hospital in an ambulance after she fell ill with a brain tumour.
Michael Kidd’s daughter Aoife, now five, was diagnosed with high-grade glioma when she was 16 months old, in February 2015.
Since then, she has undergone surgery and 18 months of chemotherapy.
Aoife is now part of a clinical drug trial at Great Ormond Street Hospital in Lonlook don. Since starting it, the tumour has remained stable.
Mr Kidd, 37, of Monkton, Ayrshire, said: ‘She was a normal, fit and healthy girl and she was at her childminder when she took unwell. At the time, I wasn’t sure what had happened and thought she might have fallen and bumped her head, or maybe collapsed.
‘I was on my day shift and I had a few missed calls from Aoife’s childminder to see if I could come down in the ambulance to get her. Initially, when I saw her, she didn’t well but I never thought for a second about what was to unfold.
‘Myself and my crewmate took her to Crosshouse Hospital where she had a scan – that’s when we found out she had a brain tumour.’
Aoife was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow where she had surgery to have the majority of the tumour removed. But a small amount had to be left.
At the time, Mr Kidd’s partner Evelyn was pregnant with the couple’s second child Eilidh, now aged three.
Mr Kidd said: ‘We knew something wasn’t right but never in a million years would have thought that’s what it was. We thought it might be a concussion, but never a brain tumour. It was the worst day of my life, without a doubt.’
The tumour was cancerous and Aoife underwent chemotherapy.
Of her current Great Ormond Street drugs trial, her father said: ‘The tumour has been stable since starting the trial drug. This is definitely good news.’
Mr Kidd, who has been with Scottish Ambulance Service for 13 years, is now aiming to raise £10,000 for a sensory and interactive space at Aoife’s primary school in Monkton.
He said: ‘Aoife has been the driving force behind everything we have been doing. We are very proud of her. She just gets on with it and doesn’t complain. She’s a wee inspiration.’