A 10-YEAR-OLD has died after the headaches and dizziness thought to be due to eye strain from playing on her iPad too much turned out to be a brain tumour.
Myla Lilly Broadey-Meears passed away in January this year after being diagnosed with an aggressive diffuse midline glioma.
The schoolgirl had begun suffering sickness, headaches and loss of balance during a family holiday to Primrose Valley in North Yorkshire in August last year.
Mum Chantelle Broadey, 29, thought her daughter may have been suffering eye strain from playing Roblox on her iPad and maybe she needed glasses – but was left devastated to learn the truth.
After a check-up at Specsavers, Myla was subsequently diagnosed with a 7-10cm tumour and was rushed to Sheffield Children’s Hospital for an operation to remove 60 per cent of the mass.
The battling youngster went on to undergo a gruelling 30 rounds of radiotherapy but tragically she passed away on January 15.
Chantelle has paid tribute to her “incredibly brave and “beautiful little girl”, who loved singer Ella Henderson, cheerleading, going camping, beach trips and mum-and-daughter shopping days.
The mum described how Myla had been “fine” just a month before the family went on the caravan break and she’d just competed in her school sports day.
However, she began having to constantly wear shades due to her headaches.
Chantelle said: “She didn’t want to take part in any activities which was really out of character.
“She loved a climbing wall but really struggled on the first step, so we noticed her getting a bit off balance and clumsy.
“The day after the holiday we went to a Taylor Swift tribute act but she wasn’t interested and wanted to come home.
“I wear glasses so we thought maybe that’s what she needed and it was down to eye strain or playing Roblox on her iPad or something like that.
“We thought it could be dehydration too.”
Chantelle said another worrying symptom saw Myla’s face starting to droop on one side, especially when she smiled.
She continued: “We thought she just had a new smile and didn’t think much to it but looking back at photos we can now see clearly.
“We took her to the doctors but they just said to keep an eye on things and monitor her – looking back I wonder whether I could have done more but I guess that’s parental guilt.”
Chantelle’s mum then took Myla for the eye appointment, and the optician “spotted something straight away”.
She explained: “They told my mum to call me and Myla’s dad and gave us a letter to take to A&E which they told us not to open.”
They rushed Myla to Grimsby Hospital and she was given a CT scan which revealed a tumour before she was blue lighted to Sheffield Hospital the same night.
Three days later she had an operation to remove 60% of the tumour – which the family was later told was between 7 and 10cm.
Chantelle, who works for a construction company, said her little girl was not the same after the operation.
She said: “Before she was always on the go and couldn’t sit still for two minutes but it left her with left-side weakness, so from that surgery she was bed-bound.
“From that surgery, she didn’t come out the same. We’ve been grieving her since then really.”
Gone was the “chatty little girl” she had been and instead Myla “just stared at the ceiling all the time and wasn’t really with it”.
Chantelle continued: “We had her good days, where she was quite chatty and we did get a few giggles out of her, but it would literally be 10 minutes of a day and then that would be it.”
Her little brother Tommy was born the day before Myla started her treatment in Leeds leaving Chantelle juggling caring for her newborn and her poorly daughter.
She also has another son from a different relationship.
Chantelle said her daughter’s 30 rounds of radiotherapy at Leeds Hospital were “very intensive” and the strain of everything all at once on the family was “incredibly difficult”.
“We were always told it was incurable but she battled for six months and that is something she can be proud of,” she explained.
However, brave Myla died on January 15 – just four days after her 10th birthday.
Chantelle said her daughter “never really came round” from the general anaesthetic given during an MRI scan over a week before, but “she was surrounded by family at home when the time came”.
Her loved ones are now doing everything they can to keep Myla’s legacy alive while also raising money for The Brain Tumour Charity.
Chantelle also set up Facebook page Together for Myla, to help other parents to be aware of tell tale symptoms of deadly tumours.
She went on to say: “These children need to start being given hope and more research needs to be done.
“The more awareness we can make, could maybe make a slight difference and I hope in this lifetime there is a cure, just wish it was available for our precious girl.
“I promised Myla I would let people know how brave she was so this is why I want to get her story out there.”
Chantelle is organising Myla’s Twilight Walk as part of her fundraising.
She added: I can’t really accept what has happened yet or get my head around it, and this way it keeps her nearby.
“Every afternoon at school pick-up time, I still expect her to run through the door.”
Myla’s dad Zak Meears, 30, said: “She never deserved what she got, no child does.
“She was the most amazing, funniest, beautiful daughter I could ever wish for, and such a loving big sister to her young brothers.
“Her name and smile will never be forgotten, forever in our hearts.”
Myla’s Twilight Walk is at 6pm on March 20 to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity, coinciding with Brain Tumour Awareness Month in March.
