Family pays tribute to soldier, 23, who died of rare cancer
VOW TO RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS
A FAMILY has paid tribute to a Sunderland soldier and vowed to raise awareness of the rare form of brain cancer which took his life.
Jamie Robb, 23, of Houghton-lespring, was rushed to hospital last year after suffering a seizure and was placed in an induced coma.
Doctors at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary told Jamie’s family the infantry soldier had suffered a catastrophic brain injury.
Tragically, Jamie, who served with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, died on May 12 last year. A postmortem revealed he had a rare form of brain cancer known as Diffuse Leptomeningeal Glioneuronal Tumour (DLGNT).
The cancer is very rare and normally occurs in children and young adults, with one case being seen every two to three years.
One year on from his death, Jamie’s mum Maria Robb, 39, and his partner, Sophie Questa, 23, have paid tribute to the Celtic and Sunderland fan.
Sophie said: “There wasn’t one person who met Jamie who didn’t like him, he always had a good aura around him and put everyone before himself.
“He was really ambitious as well,
Jamie always talked about being an entrepreneur and owning properties to rent out.
“Following his army training, he was commended for his spirit of working in a team and being willing to help others – he even helped me to go back to university to continue my studies.”
Sophie said the death of Jamie still doesn’t feel real and is now dedicating her time to raising awareness about the cancer with Maria.
She said: “It is still unbelievable and doesn’t feel real because it happened so quickly with the cancer being so aggressive.
“He had three days from being taken into hospital to dying.
“We really want to raise awareness and look more at research. Jamie’s death shouldn’t have happened, if we can prevent a family going through what we have gone through by raising this awareness and looking out for the early symptoms which are sickness and headaches.”
Jamie was initially diagnosed with depression after his behaviour changed but his family have now learned it can be a symptom of the cancer.
Sophie added: “Jamie changed overnight really, he was such a happy-go-lucky kid and was so full of life and love. I lived in the same house as him and it was difficult getting a conversation. He went from ringing his mam everyday to barely speaking to her or me. He isolated himself from
his friends. It is when they came up with the diagnosis of depression.”
Maria, of Houghton-le-spring, said her son’s death had left a huge hole in the family.
She said: “There is just such a big hole where he used to be.
“It is kind of a surreal experience. We have held ourselves together by doing things like this for him.
“Being able to try and research the cancer, trying to find out more, trying to get answers. Why did it happen? Was it preventable?
“It is a very rare cancer and there’s not a great deal about the cancer on the internet because it is so rare.
They said it was in his nervous system, they differed in opinions as well as the postmortem believed he had it for a very long time.
“They said the only other person seen was three years previous to Jamie and he passed away very, very quickly as there is no cure at all.
“Children can live with it for a limited time.
“There are cancer treatments but there is no cure. There is a lifespan of 10 years.
“We want to look more into research and help prevent a family from going through what we have gone through by raising this awareness and looking out for the early symptoms which are sickness and headaches.
“We are also searching for a charity to that deals with brain cancer of this type so we can raise funds for further research in the future.”
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It is still unbelievable and doesn’t feel real because it happened so quickly with the cancer being so aggressive.
MARIA ROBB