Theo's brain tumour journey
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On the 7th of May 2022 Theo was diagnosed with a brain tumour (Glioma of the Thalamus).
He had surgery at Great Ormond Street hospital (GOSH) where they removed 80% of the tumour and he had to then start his Chemotherapy on June 24th and is due to finish in December 2023.
Theo was just a couple of weeks before his second birthday when I suddenly noticed some sort of weakness in his right hand. Even though he was absolutely happy, and a healthy child otherwise, I knew something was wrong.
We took him multiple times to A&E at our local Hospital, we were sent home each time and told that it was nothing serious and that he probably had just stretched some of his nerves under the armpit.
My mother’s instinct told me that it was something more serious so we took him to my home country (Czech) where they did an MRI scan straight away and we found out Theo had a brain tumour the size of a golf ball.
Words cannot describe how traumatic and heart breaking this day was for us, but through all of this we had to stay strong and decide where we wanted to get treatment for Theo.
We believed that the best place to save his life would be at GOSH.
We then flew back to London, straight to the hospital where Theo had an 11 hour long surgery just a week later. It was the longest day of our life.
We were so thankful that Theo's Neurosurgeon was the world renowned Mr.Aquilina who carried out this delicate operation and, despite the very bad location of the tumour on the brain, he miraculously and skilfully managed to remove 80% of the tumour, which was an amazing result.
Once we had the results back from the laboratory, we were hit with the fact that this was going to be a long journey; requiring 18months of Chemotherapy and frequent trips to GOSH and our local Barnet hospital.
There is no guarantee that this route will be the last lot of treatments he will ever need and there's long way to go to recovery but thankfully there are many other tools and options to try to fight the tumour.
Because of some brain damage due to the tumour, Theo has got right sided weakness which will hopefully get better with time. We want to do the maximum for his speedy recovery and we believe any form of physio would help him monumentally. Due to his condition I have had to stay out of work in order to give Theo the best possible care and only Jozef, his dad, has remained working.
We have researched different ways to enhance and compliment the NHS physio he only has once a month; there is a horse riding school in Elstree, called Penniwells, which specialises in teaching disabled children and we would love to give Theo this opportunity. We also know there may be other forms of physio, or private classes that may help Theo in the future, and there may also be other treatments or equipment and toys that may accelerate his progress in the future which is the reason we are creating this page.
Thank you for reading Theo’s story, any amount you can donate will be a huge help towards making Theo's long and difficult journey more enjoyable whilst, most importantly, giving him the best possible treatment we can.
Our little superhero is doing so well and amazes us every day
Parents Dita & Jozef
Organizer
Dita Hudeckova
Organizer
England