Raising Awareness for Finns Foundation
by Natalie McCulloch
If I asked you to think back over the past 40 years potentially you could cite a great deal of change…. possibly you would gasp in the horror that I presume you are old enough to remember this far back or reflect that you actually are….hopefully you would smile either way. Well, even though we’ve seen a great deal of change in the world since the 1980’s, one thing which sadly hasn’t seen any change is the prognosis of the terminal condition DIPG. Thankfully, there is something you can do RIGHT NOW to make a change, and that is chose to learn about DIPG and educate others on it and perhaps even support a wonderful charity which works with families affected by terminal conditions, such as DIPG, called ‘FINNS FOUNDATION’. I first discovered this little known condition, DIPG, when a lovely colleague of mine, Joanna, wrote her ‘heart’ contribution on our wards heart shaped ‘rainbow of hopes and dreams for 2021’. Alongside the 56 CARDIFF TIMES
inevitable ‘be mask free, see my family, have a haircut’ posts of this challenging year, was Joanna’s ‘Educate people on DIPG’. I couldn’t help but query what DIPG was, and I was instantly touched by her tale and hopeful that I could help in some small way through writing this and helping to raise awareness. DIPG (Diffuse instrinsic pontine glioma) is a type of high grade brain tumour which originates in the area of the brain stem called the pons. The pons is responsible for numerous critical bodily functions including breathing, swallowing, eye sight and heartbeat, so it goes without saying that the effects of a tumour there are devastating. DIPG is in fact the leading cause of death from paediatric brain tumours and almost exclusively affects children. According to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital the most common symptoms related to DIPG include the following: • Problems with balance and walking • Problems with the eyes (including double vision, drooping eyelids, uncontrolled eye movements, blurred vision) • Problems with chewing and swallowing • Nausea and vomiting • Morning headache or headache that gets better after the child vomits • Facial weakness or drooping (usually one side) (https://www.stjude.org/) Sadly there is no explanation as to why certain children develop this tumor and the survival range has a median of just 8-11
