The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Kinsley inspires in her brain tumour battle
An Angus tot is inspiring family and medics as she recovers from three open brain surgeries in as many months in her battle against a lifethreatening tumour.
Mum Eden Kennedy from Forfar is maintaining a vigil at the bedside of baby Kinsley in Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, just days after her latest major operation.
Kinsley was diagnosed with an optic nerve glioma last September and has already had crucial craniotomy surgeries and gruelling chemotherapy at the age of nine-and-a-half months.
The infant has amazed those around her with her determination and brightness in the face of such serious difficulties.
Her family say they have been overwhelmed by support from hospital staff in Dundee and Edinburgh.
They also hope the wee one might be considered for a pioneering clinical trial drug.
Kinsley’s 15-year-old cousin has made an emotional plea to medical experts after losing her own mum to cancer.
And the family have praised the Tayside Children with Cancer and Leukaemia (TCCL) charity which is to benefit from a 12-hour Forfar Loch cycle marathon being undertaken by Eden’s cousin in the spring.
Eden’s mum Karen said the signs that something was wrong emerged when Kinsley was just five months old.
“Her eyes started shaking and an MRI showed it was a brain tumour which was already quite well developed,” she said.
A biopsy in October was followed by further surgery to insert a shunt in early November.
Further investigation revealed the tumour had grown to 7cm by 5cm, prompting the latest emergency operation.
“There have been complications, but she is so strong and such a fighter,” said Karen.
“She has lost her sight because of the tumour and will never get it back, but we think there is a wee bit of a miracle because she seems to be responding to light a bit now.”
The pandemic situation has meant Eden and Kinsley’s dad, John McMillan, cannot be together at Kinsley’s bedside, but they have ensured she has never been alone in Edinburgh or Ninewells throughout the past months.
Eden, who was studying psychology at Perth College UHI before Kinsley took ill, is currrently staying at Ronald McDonald House in Edinburgh while Karen, 46, looks after Kinsley’s older brother, 20-monthold Freddie.
Karen added: “The staff in both hospitals have been amazing and the speed with which they work to help Kinsley has been outstanding.”
In the bid to have the youngster considered for a clinical trial being run from Germany, Kinsley’s 15-yearold cousin Erin has penned an emotional plea after she lost her own mother to cancer.
Erin, who was just 10 when her mum Lindsey died, wrote: “I have been with Kinsley every step of the way.
“I’ve sat and held her hand when she’s in pain, watched her with nurses where they have boxes full of medicine, held her until her eyes closed for the night and sang with her until she could laugh no more.
“Now there is one critical thing I would like to do with Kinsley and that is make her wish come true.
“I am hoping you could help me do this,” Erin wrote to clinical trial bosses.
“As a 15-year-old who lost their mum to cancer I know how important memories are so I’m hoping it is possible to make Kinsley’s dream happen,” she said.
“Kinsley may also have been diagnosed blind but that will not stop the light in her eyes shining and her smile beaming.
“We are very aware when Kinsley is happy and it would make my world to see her smile with your help.”
Gran Karen added: “The drug is not available on the NHS but if Kinsley could be considered for a clinical trial we are sure it would make her quality of life significantly better.
“She is going to have to live with this tumour and she will have difficulties, but she is such a wee character and she lifts the spirits of us all with the way she is fighting this.”
The cycle fundraiser is scheduled for April 17 when Eden’s cousin, Paul Duncan, will set off on the 12-hour pedal around Forfar Loch.
His £1,000 fundraising target has already been topped within just days of being launched.
Karen said: “Lots of people are saying they plan to join him and we’ve been really encouraged by the early response, which is great because TCCL have already been so amazing for us.
“We hope Kinsley will be well enough to be there on the day too.”
Medics and scientists continue to push the bounds of possibility across the globe and closer to home.
Forfar tot Kinsley Kennedy is inspiring medics with her fight against rare illness, while pioneering research into asthma, started in Tayside, is reaping global dividends. Covid-19 vaccines are abundant. Further afield, an American car crash victim’s face and double hand transplant pushes us ever closer to the realms of science fiction.
The progress of these pioneers shows no sign of slowing and we are all the better for it.