Flintshire mum’s appeal after daughter’s brain tumour battle
A Flintshire mum is calling for better treatment options and more research into brain tumours after her young daughter was diagnosed with the disease.
Corinne Wardle, 40, a community-based staff nurse in Flintshire and Wrexham, raised concerns about her daughter Molly’s development when she was just weeks old. At 12 weeks, Molly was diagnosed with a large ependymoma which covered the right side of her brain.
Corinne, from Flint said: “At just three weeks old Molly had seizures. Every time I raised my concerns with doctors and nurses about Molly they were dismissed as common newborn behaviours. Molly would scream every time I put her down, as if she was in pain. Then both her eyes started turning outwards. When her head growth charted off the scale, we were sent for a CT scan. That’s when we were given the worst news imaginable, Molly had a brain tumour.”
Molly was transferred to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool where she underwent nine hours of emergency surgery. Corinne said: “For the first time ever, she laid on her back, looked out of the window and babbled. I cried, we were told if we’d waited any longer, that could’ve been her last day alive.”
After a year-long clinical trial, scans showed no tumour growth until January 2025 when the cancer returned. She underwent further surgery in February at Alder Hey, where two tumours were removed. Doctors later recommended radiotherapy, but the family chose to wait due to the risks of long-term damage.
Molly, now at pre-school, continues to live with the effects of the illness and treatment, including Global Development Delay and high-frequency hearing loss. She wears a hearing aid and receives ongoing support for speech and language.
Corinne said: “As a nurse, I’ve read the research, or rather, the lack of it. Ependymoma is so poorly understood. There are subtypes with very different outcomes, but not enough data. We’ve been told it can be cured, but nobody really knows. That’s terrifying. If we want children like Molly to have a future, a real future, we need better research, better treatment options, and more hope.”
Brain Tumour Research says brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer, but just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the disease.
Letty Greenfield, Community Fundraising Manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “Molly’s story is heartbreaking and inspiring. It reminds us that brain tumours are indiscriminate, and that treatment is often brutal, especially for children. We’re incredibly grateful to Corinne for sharing their journey during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. It’s only through greater awareness and more funding that we can improve outcomes and, one day, find a cure.”
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