Bella was diagnosed with brain cancer (anaplastic ependymoma) when she was 13 months old in September 2016. At the time of diagnosis, the tumour had taken over more than 25% of her brain. One of her early surgeries left her paralysed and in a coma. She is a fighter though and made it through multiple rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and 5 separate brain surgeries before we returned home in May 2017.

In August 2017, however, we received the devastating news that Bella’s cancer had returned. She had just turned 2. After a failed attempt at surgery, we were told that Bella couldn’t be cured. Thankfully though, we sought out Dr Charlie Teo who has been our saviour. He was able to remove her tumour where other neurosurgeons had been unsuccessful. Bella has now endured a total of 8 brain surgeries. She is a true warrior. Her future, however, remains uncertain due to the aggressive nature of her tumour.