Elsie shouldn't feel like an outsider because she is living with a brain tumour and has complex care needs.
Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) education for children with brain tumours should be better funded and resourced to meet their wellbeing needs.
Our Little Lady Elsie
"How can your life change in a second. One minute I had a 3 year old healthy daughter, the next I have a child with an inoperable brain tumor. We have gone from Elsie being able to walk on her own to having a walking chair at school and being carried at home. I’m struggling to get Elsie up and down the stairs, in the car, the bath. Our lives have changed dramatically due to her tumour and how it’s affecting her mobility."
"The biggest challenge recently has been school. Elsie is clearly an outsider, you can see that. There so much I want to say it’s so hard to write down x"
(Elsie's Mum, March 2023).
We provide free SEND support to our children and our SEND Practitioner is there to support and educate our children and their parent/family carers to understand how to navigate their child's SEND pathway.
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Meet Elsie & her mum Chantal.
Elsie was diagnosed with a brain tumour in October 2019 and in that same moment, everything changed!
Life has never been the same but that's why Elsie's such an awesome little girl. No smile is more beautiful than our Elsie's golden smile!
Our beautiful smiling Elsie
Give Elsie more reasons to keep smiling because #familywellbeingmatters after a child has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
With your help we can continue offering holistic wellbeing support including psychological, spiritual & practical support to our Children & Young People and their families, just like Elsie.
This affects the whole family and grandparents too...
Meet Lita, Elsie's beautiful grandma and Chantal's mum. She is a loving grandma who loves to spoil Elsie and spend every available minute with her amazing grand daughter :)
Lita has taken both Chantal and Elsie on. They live with her now in Hillingdon and life is very busy with hospital trips, multiple reviews, scans, clinics, therapies, evolving personal care routines, school run, GP visits, various community meetings, instant messages and many many telephone conversations to get the best care and support for Elsie.
Although mobility is very difficult for our amazing Elsie now, her smile is the light that fuels Lita and Chantal's hearts everyday. The changes in Elsie's mobiilty and speech and language etc is extremely upsetting for Lita but she is there to support with Elsie's needs when she is able to.
Lita not only has to watch her daughter suffer but her granddaughter too. Love is a powerful force that accomplishes impossible things!! Chantal and Elsie couldn’t get through this journey without Lita's love and support.
Living with a brain tumour diagnosis is life changing. For our children, processing this information, coping with the reality, learning, socialising, mobility etc. For their families, accepting the changes a child's diagnosis brings can take a very long time. The DLF is here to support children and their families living in Hillingdon and the surrounding areas. If friendship is all that's needed, we are happy to do just that. If more is required, we want to be there to support reach and reach more families who request additional support, we are here to offer emotional, spiritual and practical help that fits around you.