Brain Tumour Awareness Month – Meet the teams on Ward 10 and 18
March is Brain Tumour Awareness Month and on Friday last week (25 March), our Cancer Nurse Specialist teams and oncology consultants joined the annual Wear a Hat Day for brain tumour research. At our Children’s Hospital, we are proud to have skilled teams who diagnose and treat brain tumours and other cancers in our children and young people. We caught up with a few of the team to find out more about what they do and the support they offer our children, young people and their families.
Around one in 600 children will develop cancer, a similar prevalence to diabetes and meningitis. Brain tumours account for two in every ten new cancer cases each year and can affect people at any age. Around 450 children are diagnosed with brain tumours every year and they are more common in boys than in girls. Common symptoms include headaches, early morning vomiting, seizures, clumsiness, vision problems and changes in behaviour.
There are many different types of brain tumour; 60% are in the posterior part of the brain but they can be in any part of the brain. The location of the tumour affects the types of treatment and surgery that are available.
Kate Herbert, Cancer Nurse Specialist in Neurosurgery explains the typical route a patient displaying brain tumour symptoms will take on arrival at Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH). She said: “Patients and families usually meet our neurosurgical team (on Ward 10 at BCH) at the beginning of their journey. Our specialist neurosurgeons and nurses care for patients and their families before and after brain surgery, supporting them during the initial diagnosis, through their surgery and during recovery. Our nurse specialists in neurosurgery care for patients as they transition to other services with oncology and also bridge the gap between hospital and home.”
Patients arriving at BCH have to be seen and assessed very quickly as often by the time they have been referred to hospital their symptoms can be quite advanced. Diagnosis is usually assessed following a biopsy on the patient. The diagnosis will categorise the type of tumour into non-cancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Brain tumours are also grouped into grades depending on severity; grade 1 and 2 tumours are low grade and grade 3 and 4 are high grade. Grades 1 and 2 grow slowly and are less likely to return after treatment while grades 3 and 4 are primary tumours that start in the brain or secondary tumours that spread from elsewhere; they are also more likely to grow back after treatment.
Once assessed, our patients will often move to our oncology ward, Ward 18. Lucy Gwynne, Cancer Nurse Specialist in Neuro-oncology explains what treatments are available to patients. She said: “All malignant and non-malignant tumours are treated in similar ways. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a combination of two treatments and sometimes all three. At BCH, we provide surgery and chemotherapy options while radiotherapy treatments take place at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In some cases, proton beam therapy may be required and this treatment is only available at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester and we help to arrange this treatment for patients if necessary.”
At BCH, we have 11 Cancer Nurses Specialists (CNS) and 1 family support worker treating patients with all forms of cancer. From this team there are four CNS and one family support worker, primarily focussed on treating patients with brain tumours. When asked what she likes the most about her role, Eloise Neumann, Advanced Nurse Practitioner for Neuro-oncology replied: "I really enjoy treating all of our patients and their families and seeing how much progress they make through treatment. It is a privilege to be part of their journey and their strength always inspires me."
The team provide both practical and emotional support for patients and their families. This support includes help with schools or work, help with benefits, charity support such as Young Lives vs Cancer as well as being someone to talk to helping patients and families come to terms with their diagnoses.
Sadly, brain tumours are the most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Delayed diagnosis can cause disability and/or death and increases patients and family suffering. 60% of survivors are left with life-altering disability and, as with all cancers, early detection and treatment improve outcomes and an awareness of the symptoms of a brain tumour could make all the difference.
For more information and advice on brain tumours visit the HeadSmart website here.