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This booklet was written on behalf of the Katie McKerracher Trust which was set up
in memory of our daughter Katie who was diagnosed with a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine
Glioma (DIPG), a tumour in her brain stem, in February 2008.
When Katie was diagnosed, aged just 10, our family was thrown into emotional
turmoil and we were in desperate need of information on the disease and support
to help us through this traumatic experience.We received great support from
the medical team but found there to be a lack of relevant information available
to parents on this rare disease and so decided to produce our own booklet.This
has been possible thanks to guidance from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in
Edinburgh, and professional advice has been provided by Dr Mark Brougham and
Dr Simon Bailey who who were both involved with Katie’s treatment.
Over a period of fve to six weeks Katie had progressively begun
to suffer dizziness, nausea, and an increasing lack of confdence.
After several visits to the doctors she was referred
to the Borders General Hospital in Melrose for an
MRI scan and we were told the devastating news
that she was suffering from a terminal illness
and had from six to 12 months to live. After a six
week radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment
programme Katie was in a wheelchair and unable
to walk. At the end of May 2008, having had an
operation to remove fuid from her brain, doctors
told us they could offer no further treatment as
Katie’s blood counts had suffered so badly from
the chemotherapy treatment. By the end of June
2008 Katie could not walk, talk or eat.
We began to see a healer and Katie showed
remarkable improvement – whether this was
down to the medical treatment or the healer
we will never know but it meant that Katie
was soon able to chat, draw, and give her two
brothers cheek again.
Introduction