2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Anders Anglesey)
A girl who was found to have an apricot-sized brain tumour was left mute and unable to walk after she felt "off-balance during PE". Amelie Williams, 12, who lives close to Wells, Somerset, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma after she had an eye check-up in March 2023, aged 11, and the optician saw her eyes "flickering." Medulloblastoma is a type of cancerous brain tumour that usually occurs in the cerebellum, near the brainstem.
She noticed something was off during athletics training when there were issues with her balance. However, unusual symptoms were found only during a routine annual optician's check-up . Amelie underwent a 10-hour operation to remove the apricot-sized brain tumour the following day.
But following the gruelling operation, Amelie found that she could no longer walk or talk. The removal of the tumour sparked "a shock in her cerebellum", an important part of the brain that helps control balance and motor movement. Amelie was in fact experiencing posterior fossa syndrome, a complication from medulloblastoma surgery that causes communication and motor skills issues.
She ended up being mute for three weeks, communicating with hand gestures, and passing the time by listening to the Tracy Beaker audiobook series. When she did end up regaining some speech, it sounded "robotic," The Sun reported. Following six weeks of "horrific" radiotherapy, causing hair loss, and nine months of chemotherapy, Amelie finally started high school for the first time on a reduced timetable.
But she is now slowly re-learning sport, singing and beatboxing skills. “(After my surgery) I couldn’t see anyone. I could sense they were there and I could hear them.
.. but I couldn’t respond,” Amelie said.
“I felt like my body was a shell and I was trying to call out to my family, but my mouth wouldn’t move. When I lost my voice, it was really hard because normally I sing to express myself. If I feel sad, then I sing a song to myself.
“Now I’m going back to school and I’m doing the same clubs that I used to – going back to my gymnastics, going back to my swimming, and I’m just working on swimming techniques.” The young girl said she initially felt "trapped" following the surgery. While she wanted to cry, she was determined to keep positive.
It took her three weeks to make her first sound again, she then started using words to communicate two months later. Thanks to speech and language sessions alongside physiotherapy, Amelie started to regain her movement and ability to talk. Her little brother Arlo, 10, also assisted her with some exercises at home and helped take care of her.
Her mum, Lydia said: " I think cancer scares everybody, children and adults, and it carries with it a lot of negative connotations...
but now, being a family that’s gone through something like that, I also feel that cancer isn’t the end.” Amelie and her family were supported throughout the ordeal by the You Lives vs Cancer charity. To find out more, visit www.
younglivesvscancer.org.uk.
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