Like all young children, Aubrey Rothery had his fair share of bumps and accidents with furniture.
But what most parents would understandably attribute to the rough and tumble of childhood ended up being a sign of a cancer which kills most sufferers who get it within a year.
Aubrey’s parents, Andrew, 54, and Samantha, 51, thought something was off when their seven-year-old kept losing his balance and bumping into objects.
But they initially dismissed it as the results of a growth spurt.
When the accidents kept happening, the pair sought help from medics to pin down the cause of Aubrey’s mishaps.
Aubrey Rothery, 7, has been diagnosed with deadly form of brain cancer called diffuse midline glioma (DIPG)
His parents revealed that they grew concerned after the active schoolboy started experiencing problems with his balance and bumping into furniture
An MRI scan eventually revealed these problems were due to a tumour growing in his brain with the family receiving the devastating diagnosis just last month. Pictured: Aubrey’s mum, Samantha Hibbert, comforts her son in hospital
An MRI scan revealed that their ‘beloved beautiful boy’ had a diffuse midline glioma (DIPG).
The rare brain tumour, which strikes about 20 to 30 children in the UK a year, mostly emerges in kids between the age of five and 10.
It grows in the midline, between the two halves of the brain, and kills the majority of those who get it within a year.
Only 2 per cent of patients are alive five years after their diagnosis.
On average, patients diagnosed with DIPG can expect to survive for between eight and 11 months.
The cancer grows through the brain, causing various symptoms, but one of the most common is problems with walking, coordination or balance.
Mr Rothery, a community development worker from Newton Abbot, Devon, said the family were ‘in pieces’ following Aubrey’s shock diagnosis in February.
‘It was very subtle to start with, he was bumping into bits of furniture,’ he said,
‘He’d grown a lot and is quite gangly and lively and active and we thought he’s just not noticing where he’s going.
‘All this happened within two days, our lives just turned upside down out of nowhere.
‘It feels like in some ways like hope is the most important thing we have to hold on to — the diagnosis is harsh, and the prognosis is pretty bleak.
‘We were just in pieces, it was an incredible shock.’
He added: ‘This can’t be happening to our beloved beautiful boy.’
After Aubrey’s balance issues saw him sent home from school, his parents took him to their GP suspecting he may have some sort of viral infection.
Their family doctor then urged them to go to hospital immediately.
He is now being treated at Bristol Children’s Hospital and is receiving radiotherapy, where medics use targeted blasts of radiation to try and kill tumours.
His parents said prior to his diagnosis Aubrey was always on the go and loved to play outside, bounce on the family’s trampoline and dance.
But now he spends most of his days in bed only able to play for about 10minutes before needing to rest.
Mr Rothery and Ms Hibbert, a full-time-mother, said they are trying not to lose hope but acknowledge the reality that DIPG patients don’t have a good prognosis.
‘It’s devastating, we have responded as you do as a parent, you do whatever you can do for your children and that’s what we’re doing,’ Mr Rothery said,
‘If you look at history of survival rates around this tumour, there aren’t many people who have survived.
Aubrey’s mum, Samantha, and dad, Andrew Rothery say they are trying to hold on to hope and are researching potential clinical trials for DIPG that their son might be eligible for. Pictured: the family at Christmas
‘We’ve looked and haven’t found much evidence of survivors beyond five years but that doesn’t mean that can’t happen.
‘What we’re focusing on is hope and positivity – it’s well known with cancer survivors that positivity and hope you will survive is absolutely key.
‘We’re building is this sense of positivity, support and love from us and his family, friends and wider community.’
The couple are hoping to raise awareness about the cancer as they fundraise for potential treatments for Aubrey’s.
They are currently researching potential clinical trials for DIPG but say Aubrey would need to undergo a biopsy to be eligible.
Such a biopsy is a challenging prospect given the location of the cancer and the type of tumours DIPG causes which are hard to distinguish from healthy tissue.
They have so far raised more than £10,000 towards a goal of £25,000.
DIPG symptoms vary depending on the specific nature and location of the tumour.
Including balance problems, the most common signs of DIPG are weakness in the arms and legs, difficulty controlling facial expressions or one side of the face appearing different than the other, speech problems, issues with swallowing or chewing, and vision problems like seeing double or being unable to control the eyes.
Scientists still don’t understand what causes DIPG to trigger in the first place,
Radiotherapy is the standard DIPG treatment as due to its location in the brain and the fact it extremely hard to distinguish between the cancer and healthy tissue surgery is usually impossible.
