A young boy was terrified to leave his mum to go to school in case she died while he was there after she was left writhing in pain by a brain tumour. What Anna Binks initially thought could be hormonal issues turned out to be her worst nightmare - a suspected low grade glioma that she was told she had in 2010 had progressed, leaving her sick and in pain.
While Anna was "absolutely terrified", she was most worried about how her illness would affect her children, Jacob, seven, and Esme, nine. Heartbreakingly, Anna said Jacob was scared to leave her to go to school in case she died and he wasn't with her, while Esme would regularly go to sleep with a bucket next to her bed and a tummy ache because of anxiety.
Anna, from Little Weighton, near Hull, explained how she was diagnosed with a low-grade form of brain tumour 12 years ago after blood tests revealed she had high prolactin levels, HullLive reports. She was suspected to have a low-grade glioma, which doctors decided to monitor.
But 10 years later, Anna, 43, started to suffer from dizzy spells and headaches, which she initially put down to hormones. But her pain got increasingly worse and she even suffered a fall.
"I was struggling to learn things and take in information, and I was really fatigued. I thought it was because of hormones and perhaps I had become perimenopausal," Anna explained. "The symptoms persisted, and I even had a fall. Some headaches left me vomiting and writhing around in agony."
On June 8 last year, Anna had 60 per cent of the diffuse astrocytoma brain tumour removed during surgery. She had six weeks of radiotherapy in December, followed by chemotherapy in March 2022 and by May 2022, she had to retire from her job as an NHS business manager due to ill health.
Anna said: "I was absolutely terrified and so was my husband, Phil." She added: "Phil’s biggest fear was that I would die in surgery. Mine was coming out of surgery a different person.
"A mother’s worst nightmare is for something to happen to her children. Her second worst nightmare is for something to happen to herself or their daddy and for them to experience sadness that a child never should experience."
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. However, historically just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this disease.
Amid the world’s best football players competing in the World Cup in Qatar, Jacob is taking part in the One Million Keepy Uppy Challenge for Brain Tumour Research. The challenge encourages people to complete 10,000 "keepy-uppies" towards the one million target.
This number is symbolic as it costs £1m to fund a Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence for a year. Jacob is doing the challenge with his teammates at South Cave Under 8’s Blacks after the manager, Chris Eyre, found out about Anna’s diagnosis.
Chris said: “I feel really proud that all of the boys are doing this and they’re being backed by the parents. Liverpool Football Club sent us a signed photo from all of the players; the boys were absolutely buzzing when they saw that.
“We’ve also received messages of support from Chelsea Football Club, the Hull City goalkeeper Nathan Baxter, and the BBC Look North presenter Peter Levy.”
Anna said she is "so pleased" her son and his teammates are doing it and feels “really proud” of all of them. She added: “I keep hope that something will be discovered and I can live to be an old lady sat in my rocking chair next to my husband, and we would be proud of the good adults my children turned out to be while admiring our grandchildren. I want to leave a legacy of love, so as long as I’m with my three, I’m happy.”
Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK and it campaigns for the government and larger charities to invest more into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients, and, ultimately, to find a cure.
To donate to the South Cave Under 8’s fundraising page visit Just Giving and find more information about the challenge here.
