Back to school for family's 'little firecracker' Rosie, 5

'Short sessions' for youngster diagnosed with rare and inoperable tumour

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A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl's headaches turned out to be a rare inoperable brain tumour.

Rosie Hassall started complaining of a pain in her forehead in November. Initially her parents thought it was just a headache and gave her Calpol. But then they noticed her left eye appeared delayed and booked an optician appointment, which found nothing wrong, and one with the doctor.

Doctors didn't know what was wrong before an MRI revealed a tumour on her brain. A biopsy in January confirmed Rosie had paediatric bithalamic glioma containing a rare genetic abnormality - an aggressive and inoperable tumour owing to its location, with a prognosis of nine to 12 months.

But after five rounds of chemotherapy Rosie has returned to school. Mum Charlotte, aged 36, an NHS worker from South Cheshire, said: "We didn't think Rosie would be able to attend her school sports day in July, but she did, and she smashed it.

"She's now returning to school for short sessions and has started her fifth round of chemo. She still has tough days, but she's determined to carry on doing what she loves. She amazes us every single day."

After the initial optician and doctors appointments found nothing wrong, Rosie became rundown and was given antibiotics and diagnosed with an infection.