Life changed dramatically for "bright, happy and generously spirited" Lacey-Mae Spong-McClelland when she was just four years old. Having only had the odd cough or cold up to that point, out of the blue she started vomiting and complaining of terrible headaches.
Her dad Rob also began to notice his daughter tripping over and bumping into things more often and took her to the optician to see whether she had inherited his bad eyesight. After several checks came back normal, Lacey-Mae took a turn for the worse and began screaming in pain, prompting her parents to take her to A&E.
"At that point, I was half expecting them to turn me away as a neurotic dad, so what did actually happen over the next few hours sent me into complete shock," recalled Rob, from Barry. "Within an hour of us being there we were told that our daughter had a brain tumour and needed urgent surgery to relieve the pressure caused by fluid build-up inside her skull. They said that had I not brought her in when I did, she would not have survived the next day."
