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DANIEL’S STORY

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For the first few years of Daniel Bell’s life, he was like any other toddler. Full of energy, happy and full of life at home in Ormskirk. But doctors soon discovered Daniel had a brain tumour the size of a fist.

At aged three, mum Rosalind and dad Colin noticed a change in Daniel’s behaviour. He wasn’t the same happy-go-lucky toddler he used to be. Rosalind explains “His personality literally changed. He was grumpy, had lots of tantrums, was sick and went back to sleeping in the day too, which was the total opposite of what he was previously.”

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Thankfully Rosalind recognised some of the symptoms of a brain tumour. Daniel was taken to Ormskirk A&E, who quickly realised the severity of the situation and Daniel was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Once at Alder Hey, Daniel was taken straight to theatre, where Neurosurgeon Ms Sasha Burns drained fluid on his brain during a 3 hour life-saving operation. The next day, Daniel’s tumour was removed during a 9 hour operation by Professor Conor Mallucci, who had rushed back from London to perform the procedure.

“Professor Mallucci told us that Daniel had a cystic tumour which was the size of an adult’s fist and there was a possibility of Daniel losing motor and mobility skills as the result of the procedure,” explained Rosalind.

Yet Daniel’s operation was a success, made possible by the use of Alder Hey’s 3-T MRI scanner, a pioneering scanner which allows surgeons to scan the brain in theatre. Alder Hey is the first hospital in Europe to have this technology, which was fully funded by Alder Hey Children’s Charity.

Daniel was rushed straight to Alder Hey, which is a centre of excellence for brain conditions. “It was like the bottom had fallen out of my world; our lives changed in a split second. We were told he needed to go to Alder Hey right away and we were blue-lighted to Liverpool,” says Rosalind.

Professor Mallucci successfully managed to remove the whole of Daniel’s tumour and after two weeks in Alder Hey, Daniel went home.

Rosalind added: “Daniel is now a happy, healthy and very active little boy who loves being with his friends, playing Minecraft and raising money for Alder Hey Children’s Charity.”

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