Karen Walks Over Cancer/#Islastones

WELCOME TO MY FUNDRAISING PAGE: I want to tell you a little about a very brave and courageous little girl called Isla Tansey (known as Isla Smiler) from Hinckley, that has inspired me to do this: #Islastones Isla’s story Isla was 6 years old when she was diagnosed with the deadliest cancer of all, DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma). There is no cure for DIPG and survival rates average at 9 months. Isla woke up on August 12th 2017 unable to walk properly and lost all the feeling from her chest downwards. After lots of scans the medical team thought Isla had a rare condition called Transverse Myelitis and received steroids and later Plasmapheresis which involved inserting tubes into her neck to have her plasma cleaned. Isla showed no improvements and was later diagnosed with a tumour in her spine. Isla underwent a surgery to have the tumour removed and from November received 6 weeks of radiotherapy 5 days a week. Isla went home late December to spend Christmas with her family, but soon became very very poorly and was re-admitted to hospital. In Jan 2018 Isla’s family were informed that Isla had a brain tumour and that there were no treatment options. Isla was given only a few weeks to live. Isla and her family went home to make as many memories as they could. From January until March Isla experienced a lot of pain and was unable to get out of bed. During this time family and friends spent many hours entertaining Isla in her bedroom. In March her family & friends started to decorate stones as an activity for Isla to enjoy with her friends. A friend took some Sharpies and some stones to them and they each decorated one and asked other friends to hide them nearby. They asked them to post a photo for Isla so she could see where her stones had gone. The #islastones facebook page was created so Isla could see the stones. Within weeks the group had grown beyond anyone's expectations. Isla absolutely loved seeing everyone's smiles when they posted photos of what stones they had found. During this time Isla’s pain became more controlled and she was bravely hoisted out of bed into a chair. This new found freedom allowed Isla and her family to leave the house and make some even more special memories and allowed her to join in with #Islastones, which brought her lots of joy. Every day Isla received beautiful gifts and stones from people who had joined the group and taken Isla into their hearts. Isla was interviewed on two occasions by the BBC, her dream was to become famous and with over 40,000 people at this point in her group she certainly felt it. Her film can be viewed by clicking this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-44793144 Isla sadly passed on July 10th 2018 at home with her family. (PERMISSION OF PHOTO USE GRANTED BY KATHERINE POPPY - MUM OF ISLA)