When eight-year-old Stanley Bramble began experiencing headaches so bad that he passed out from the pain, his mum, Kirsty, knew that something was wrong.
The Harlow-based schoolboy first started getting sporadic head pains in September 2021, which doctors described as 'migraines' and prescribed medication for. However, Stanley was left "unwell, passing out and then sleeping for hours" because of the pain.
The symptoms persisted for several weeks and led to Stanley experiencing "episodes" - where he would be rocking back and forth, "staring straight through you" and be crying.
As the headaches got worse, Kirsty took her son to hospital, where medics carried out a number of tests.
Stanley was set to be sent home until he had one of his "episodes" and doctors called him back in. And finally, on December 10, Stanley was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital where Kirsty and his dad, Gareth Batten, were told that he had a brain tumour, which a biopsy later confirmed to be ependymoma - a rare and aggressive brain cancer on the central nervous system which only a handful of people are diagnosed with each year in the UK.
The family only had three days to prepare before Stanley was rushed into surgery for an operation to drain the fluid on his brain. He then had a further 13 hour operation to try and remove as much of the tumour as possible.
But despite best efforts, doctors were unable to eliminate the tumour completely. And although Stanley was originally prescribed curative treatment, with the hope of destroying the cancer, a relapse in 2022 meant that he was switched to palliative care - including chemotherapy and proton beam treatment.
Sadly, although these treatments will help Stanley feel more comfortable, Kirsty is aware that it also means he has "a lower chance of survival".
She said: "Consultants tell me that they won't be able to cure Stanley and it all boils down to the original brain tumour being unable to be removed. Although that hasn't grown anymore, the chemotherapy and proton beam treatment has kept it at bay but it could at any point wake up again. If one of those cells decides to spark up, it's in the fluid which runs around the body and could spark up anywhere.
"It's completely overwhelming but at the end of the day you've just got to do all you can to support your child."
Stanley's future is currently uncertain and consultants say there is a low chance that he will be cured.
But despite 18 months of hospital treatment, Stanley remains a "typical eight-year-old boy", who Kirsty describes as being "cheeky and sometimes a bit mouthy", but also "so loving and caring".
Stanley's lively personality and fighting spirit also means that he has made firm friends with another boy in the hospital and is one day hoping to return to his passion of boxing.
Now the family are focusing on making lasting memories together and are hoping to make the most of a "window of opportunity" between treatments with a summer holiday to Caister-on-Sea in Norfolk - the last place the family visited before Stanley became unwell.
However, due to the costs of accommodation, food and laundry during Stanley's treatment the family are fundraising for their trip, with an initial target of £2,500.
Kirsty said: "I've had to borrow some money to secure the holiday. I want a holiday where we don't have to say no as we don't know if it'll be his last holiday. Even if it isn't his last holiday, he'll have had a rough 20 months by then and deserves to just be a child rather than a cancer patient.
"We want him and his sister to be able to build memories. If it's the only one he'll get then we want to make it the best it can be."
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