Brain Tumour Research and Anna’s Hope benefit from the inspirational story of Lennon Gaddes

A boy who endured a six-hour operation to remove a brain tumour is proving an inspiration to those around him.

Ten-year-old Lennon Gaddes has returned to being the bright and sporty boy he was before being diagnosed with a sizeable tumour and cyst on his brain on September 16 last year.

Surgeons performed a life-saving operation, which involved the removal of the tumour and the insertion of a metal plate onto his skull.

Despite the severity of his condition and the length of time he was on the operating table, Lennon has made a superb recovery, and is back to playing football several times a week, including for Stamford Daniels.

Now that Lennon is well enough to lead a normal life again, his parents Lucy and Kevin have been able to reflect on what the family has been through, and are setting goals to help other children diagnosed with brain tumours.

Lucy, 40, said: “I don’t want another family to go through what we did.

“At the time Lennon was diagnosed I was very matter of fact about it and I was making calls and arranging for his sister, Isla, to stay with a friend. It was her first week at secondary school and so it should have been a time when the focus was on her.

“It was only at Christmas that the enormity of what had happened hit me and I felt very emotional and relieved. Both Lennon and Isla were both thoroughly spoiled!”

In order to ‘repay’ some of the support they received, Lucy walked more than 10,000 steps a day during February and raised £3,130 for Brain Tumour Research, putting her in the top five per cent of fundraisers taking on the charity challenge.

And although she has had to defer a London Marathon 2025 place secured through the event’s annual ballot, Lucy hopes to run the 26.2-mile event next year in support of Anna’s Hope, a local charity for children diagnosed with brain tumours.

Lennon’s parents are also keen for people to be aware of possible symptoms of a brain tumour.

Dad Kev, 41, said: “Last summer Lennon started to have absent seizures. He would be doing something and then he would blank out for a few seconds and his eyes would go to the left. Afterwards he’d feel confused.

“They could happen at any time - on the football pitch, or while he was playing a video game.

“On one occasion we were cycling to school and I was telling him to turn left and Lennon just kept on going straight. He nearly ran into a car.

“Each absence became longer, so they were up to 15 seconds. We started to video them and were able to show these to the doctor.”

Lennon added: “It was weird. My head went like I had a headache - it was annoying and felt funny. I remember playing Fifa with Dad and I thought I was somewhere else.”

Lennon’s parents were told initially by his doctor that absences could be brought on by tiredness and heat, and having been away on summer holiday, they blamed themselves for letting him stay up later than normal.

But when the absences continued, Kev pushed for tests to be done. A brain activity scan was carried out to test for epilepsy, then an MRI that produced an image of the inside of Lennon’s skull.

Within 48 hours of that, Kev and Lucy were called in to Peterborough City Hospital to be told Lennon had a brain tumour.

“We were asking people lots of questions because it was all new to us,” said Kev.

Lennon travelled overnight to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where he was to undergo an operation to remove the low-grade glioma tumour.

On the way, his mum asked him what he knew about brain tumours.

“Unfortunately what he knew was that a friend, Josh, had lost his mum to a brain tumour only about 18 months before,” she said.

“There had been a lot of fundraising going on afterwards, and Lennon, Isla and I had run the Race for Life at Burghley for Brain Tumour Research.”

Four surgeons were involved in Lennon’s operation, which began at 7.30am. They finally put him into the children’s intensive care unit to recover at 4pm.

Lucy and Kev were able to stay close, thanks to Acorn House, part of The Sick Children’s Trust that provides accommodation close to the hospital.

Four days later, Lennon walked out of the hospital with his family.

His recuperation at home in Rutland Heights, Stamford, involved nine weeks without playing football, which Lennon described as ‘frustrating’.

But friends and staff at his primary school, Malcolm Sargent in Empingham Road, have been supportive, and Year 6 teacher Adele Raistrick and pastoral lead Allison Buck even visited him in hospital and at home.

Kev, a travel agent, said: “When we first found out about the brain tumour I was asking how rare it was and how many other children were affected. I thought it was bad luck. But now I feel lucky.

“We met people whose children were in hospital, and they were having a worse time than Lennon.

“What Lennon has been through leaves me awestruck. To see where he was and where he is now - he’s an inspiration.

“I think there is more fundraising we can do as time goes on. What Lucy has begun is just a warm up.”

Lucy, who works in Stamford for a mortgage company, added: “Lennon will have to return to hospital for an MRI every three months, which will then be every four months after a year.

“We have also become part of Addenbrooke’s whole genome sequencing research, which is part of the hospital’s research into gene mutations that might cause tumours or cancers.

“If anyone wants to help prevent children going through what Lennon went through, then please support Brain Tumour Research or Anna’s Hope.”

People can find out more about the charities to make a donation or organise their own event at braintumourresearch.org and at annas-hope.co.uk.

Anna’s Hope was set up by Rob and Carole Hughes, who live just outside Stamford, whose daughter Anna was diagnosed with a brain tumour as a toddler.