Brave youngster Maisie Lossau joins The Sun’s #sweatyselfie campaign in aid of Brain Tumour Research
Since being diagnosed with a brain tumour last year Maisie was inspired to raise awareness for brain cancer following death of Sun fitness expert Nicki Waterman
SUPPORT for our #SweatySelfie campaign just keeps on coming.
Gymnastics-mad Maisie Lossau, 11, is the latest person to back our charity venture in memory of Sun fitness expert Nicki Waterman.
After being diagnosed with a brain tumour, Maisie has spent the past eight months in hospital.
But she was inspired to act after the family of Nicki — who died of a brain tumour this month, aged 53 — launched a fundraising appeal for the charity Brain Tumour Research.
TV stars Denise Van Outen and Kate Thornton, All Saints singer Nicole Appleton and ex-Spice Girl Emma Bunton have all backed the cause and readers have so far donated £3,000 to charity.
Now Maisie has joined the campaign and, in a wheelchair by her hospital bedside, posed for her own beaming selfie with mum Dawn and dad Darrell.
Dawn, 44, a law firm credit controller, says: “We are 100 per cent behind The Sun’s campaign.
“It’s sad it takes someone like Nicki to die to raise awareness but it’s great that Alex and Harry are raising funds and celebrities getting behind the cause because this could really make a difference.”
“Brain cancers are not put in the limelight enough.
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“Our world fell apart when we found out Maisie had a tumour.
“There were so many signs but no one pieced them together.”
Brain Tumour Research, founded in 2009, funds the UK’s largest collaboration of brain tumour scientists and campaigns for greater government funding.
The charity’s chief executive, Sue Farrington Smith, says: “It’s been incredible to see The Sun’s campaign take off.”
The first sign of Maisie’s tumour showed in June last year when Dawn noticed a squint in her right eye.
Maisie had also developed double vision.
But Dawn says: “I took her along to an optician, who said it could be a lazy eye.
“Maisie was prescribed glasses and we all thought little of it.”
She was also referred to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital’s optometry department for more eye tests but there was an 18-week waiting list.
Last December, Maisie’s gym teacher then noticed a weakness on her left side and she had also started to complain about neck pains.
Dawn says: “Over Christmas and New Year, her left arm began to droop, as though she’d had a stroke.
“I took her to the GP who this time referred her to the hospital orthopaedics department.
“But the next day, on the way to primary school, Maisie started dragging her left leg. I sensed something was very wrong.”
Desperate for answers, Dawn took Maisie to the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital’s private Spire clinic in early February where they did an an MRI scan.
Dawn said: “The next day, they called us and said she had a brain tumour.
“We were devastated.
Maisie was immediately referred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where surgeons removed 80 per cent of her tumour.
Doctors now hope it is under control because it is classed as a low-grade, benign cancer.
But Maisie remains in a high- dependency unit at the hospital and, after a partial regrowth of her tumour, faces six months of radiotherapy.
Dawn says: “It has been a long haul.
“Surgery left Maisie temporarily paralysed from the neck down, she suffered a collapsed lung and was put in a coma.
“Very gradually, over the last few months, she has regained strength in her muscles and can move her legs and head — but still needs support to hold her head up.
“Her eyesight is back to normal and she can speak very softly thanks to a tracheotomy tube that helps her breathe.
“But she has lost the hearing in her left ear.”
Dad Darrell has had to put his work as a taxi driver on hold and the family have had to sell their Norfolk home and buy a bungalow to better suit Maisie when she is able to leave hospital.
The family have also set up a crowdfunding page to raise the £5,000 they need for Maisie’s treatment and rehabilitation. They have so far raised £3,500.
“Dawn says: “It’s frightening how fast all this has happened.
“One minute Maisie was leaping about doing cartwheels, the next she’s in a hospital bed.
“But we’re determined to spread the word about brain tumours and the symptoms.
“There is also a frustrating lack of treatment available. We must invest more money in scientists finding a cure.”
Brain Tumour Research’s director of research Dr Kieran Breen says: “Unlike most other cancers, brain tumours are on the rise.
“More people are being diagnosed than ever before yet there are very few cancer research teams in the UK dedicated to brain tumours.”
As for Maisie, she remains determined to fight the disease — and promote awareness.
How to donate
To donate to Brain Tumour Research in memory of Nicki Waterman, text SNAP53 £3 to 70070.
To help Maisie's family, visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/dawn-lossau
