A boy who was “happy, playful and full of energy” was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of seven after his mother noticed three subtle symptoms.
Kathryn Edwards, 46, first noticed her son Kaiden’s symptoms of dizziness, fatigue and headaches in October 2021, but due to delays because of Covid-19, it took eight months for him to have an MRI scan and receive a diagnosis of a medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumour.
More than 70 per cent of cases occur in children under the age of 10, according to the charity Children with Cancer UK.
After surgery to remove the cancer, and proton beam therapy and chemotherapy, Kathryn said it was the “best day” to see Kaiden ring the end-of-treatment bell in July 2023.
But just nine months later, doctors discovered a tumour in Kaiden’s spinal cord that Kathryn said was “inoperable” because there would be a “very high” risk of paralysis or the need for a ventilator to breathe, because of surgery complications.
Kaiden has had multiple rounds of chemotherapy ever since, before the family – including his father Simon Edwards, 44, and five siblings, aged six to 27 – were told in February 2026 that there was progression of his cancer and his treatment was changed.
Kaiden, 11, now lives with a permanent port in his skull which delivers a different type of chemotherapy directly into his cerebrospinal fluid.
“I think it is the toughest thing you can go through,” said Kathryn, a former Send teacher from Buckinghamshire.
“Watching your child go through all of the treatment that they’re doing when you know they don’t want to do it.
“The mental health toll that it takes on both the children and the parents is a lot, but you just have to keep going.”
Before his cancer diagnosis, Kathryn said Kaiden’s health was “just like any normal kid”.
“He was just happy, playful and full of energy,” she said.
The first sign that something was wrong was when Kathryn said she was “pulled aside” by a teacher after school in October 2021 and told that her son had felt “dizzy” and did not want to be involved in class.
Within two weeks, Kathryn said she noticed Kaiden was more tired than usual and the school flagged his low energy again, so she took him to the doctor.
After describing Kaiden’s symptoms, Kathryn said the locum doctor told her he “didn’t want to panic” her, but he was ordering a blood test to “rule out” anything serious.
A second doctor’s appointment in November 2021 came with a diagnosis of migraines and both iron and vitamin deficiencies, for which Kaiden received medications and a referral to a consultant paediatrician.
“From that moment, after Googling symptoms, I thought it might be a brain tumour,” Kathryn said.
“I didn’t say that out loud to the doctor though because I felt ridiculous… like I was just being so stupid.”
Over the next seven months, Kathryn said Kaiden’s symptoms got “progressively worse” to a “booming pain” in the back of his head, infrequent double vision and vomiting from January onwards.
The latter symptom prompted Kathryn to take Kaiden to the doctor three more times, and the GP noted at the last one in May 2022 that the seven-year-old had his “head on the doctor’s desk for the whole of the appointment”.
Kaiden finally saw a consultant in May 2022 and was referred for an MRI, which Kathryn said she was told could take up to eight weeks, so she pushed for it to be earlier.
Kathryn said: “I believe if we’d have waited eight weeks, he wouldn’t be here now.”
Kaiden had the MRI on June 20, and three days later, doctors told Kathryn and her husband Simon they had found a mass on their son’s brain.
“It was awful, but I did expect it and I don’t know why,” Kathryn said.
They picked up Kaiden from school and took him to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, where Kathryn said a paediatrician explained the diagnosis to her son in “kid-friendly” terms.
By June 27, Kaiden had a six-hour surgery at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and Kathryn said she was relieved to receive a phone call confirming doctors had “managed to remove 100 per cent” of the tumour.
Giving up her job as a teacher to look after her son, Kathryn said Kaiden had six weeks of proton beam therapy at University College London Hospitals – a type of radiotherapy treatment – followed by seven months of “horrific” chemotherapy.
“It really knocked him sideways and made him feel very poorly,” Kathryn said, adding that his symptoms included nausea, vomiting, fatigue and hair loss.
By July 2023, Kaiden rang the hospital bell to mark the end of his cancer treatment, before the family celebrated at TGI Fridays restaurant.
Kathryn said: “(Waiting staff) got Kaiden to stand on the chair and announce to the restaurant that he had finished cancer treatment.
“Then the whole restaurant erupted, so that was really lovely.”
Kaiden had quarterly follow-up scans, before Kathryn said a routine check-up after “no signs or symptoms” in March 2024 revealed he had relapsed, this time with an “inoperable” spinal cord tumour.
Symptoms of a brain tumour
NHS
The symptoms of a brain tumour vary depending on the exact part of the brain affected.
Common symptoms include:
- headaches
- seizures (fits)
- persistently feeling sick (nausea), being sick (vomiting) and drowsiness
- mental or behavioural changes, such as memory problems or changes in personality
- progressive weakness or paralysis on one side of the body
- vision or speech problems
Since then, Kathryn said her son’s treatment plan has changed “three times” because different types of chemotherapy are losing their effectiveness, requiring a permanent port to be fitted in his head in February this year.
Kaiden has to be careful not to bump it, but Kathryn said he has a “good balance” of treatment and is “doing things he wants to do”.
“Kaiden has been fighting this disease for four years,” Kathryn said of her son, who has just started secondary school.
“He’s now having the same chemotherapy as fully grown adults and the effect this has on a tiny child’s body and mind is truly devastating.
“It’s completely changed his life.
“He walked out of school one day at seven years old and never went back, not properly.”
Kathryn does not know what the future holds for her son but hopes he continues to “live his best life”.
“My hope is always for tomorrow; that Kaiden is comfortable, that he’s smiling, that he gets to enjoy special moments,” Kathryn said.
Offering advice to other parents with children going through cancer, Kathryn said: “Take one moment at a time.”
Kaiden has been supported by the charity Children with Cancer UK and is featured in their Kids Like Us: Reunited campaign.
