Holly said: “The hardest part is not knowing, it feels like everything is up in the air with it.”“We want some precious Christmas memories.”

“Olivia gets quite upset at times, which is understandable with everything she’s been through,” Holly added.So on June 17, Holly took her to A&E, where doctors also noticed Olivia was “wobbly on her feet” and her eyes were “quite squinty”, with one appearing “lopsided”.“I can’t fall apart because my kids rely on me to be the strong one.“I didn’t know if she would survive.”

On June 21, Olivia had an eight-hour operation to remove 95 per cent of the tumour, but the remaining five per cent was too close to the brain to remove without causing damage.Between the two rounds, doctors told Holly that the brain tumour had shrunk, but its exact size and the status of cancer in her spine remained unclear due to fluid buildup.On June 18, an MRI sadly revealed Olivia had a brain tumour.“It was heartbreaking, telling them the news,” she said.

Holly explained: “We had to think about her quality of life.They can also lead to changes in personality weakness or paralysis on one side of the problem and problems with speech or vision.

Holly, who has been a stay-at-home mum for several years, struggled to explain the situation to her three other children.“She does get a little bit scared when she has to do things but overall, she’s taken it quite well.“So we just wanted to kind of make it the best we can at home – just fill the house with decorations, make it sort of like a Santa’s grotto.In August, Olivia underwent two five-day rounds of chemotherapy, during which she lost her hair.“She took it quite well, really, we got given a children’s book by the hospital that explains chemotherapy, I think that helped with easing her mind,” Holly says.The hardest part is not knowing, it feels like everything is up in the air with it

Throughout this period, Holly found it difficult to know what to say to Olivia about her condition.HollyOlivia’s mum

That same day, Olivia underwent emergency surgery to fit an external ventricular drainage system to relieve a blockage preventing her spinal fluid from draining.In September, Olivia had six weeks of proton beam therapy, a type of radiotherapy that uses high-energy protons to treat cancer, as part of a clinical trial.By June, Olivia was being sick every day and was feeling extremely tired.“I think my eldest is probably taking it the hardest, because she understands a lot more than the others, so she can be quite withdrawn, but I’ve just been trying my hardest to reassure her and let her know she can talk to me.”Holly chose a treatment plan for Olivia combining chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which although had a better survival rate, came with the risk of future learning difficulties.Holly, also mum to Lilly, 12, Mason, seven, and Sonny, three, says: “Most of the time I just try and hold it together, because you’ve got no choice, really, you just have to get on with it.The nine most common symptoms are:

Gruelling treatment

“We don’t really know how well she’s going to be because she’ll be having chemo in December, so it’s not a good idea to try and take her out anywhere,” Holly explained.Doctors said chemo and radiotherapy could lower her IQ and she would most likely end up with learning difficulties, it was such an impossible decision to make.WHEN Olivia, 5, became sick, her mum assumed it was due to the weather, never imagining she was in fact living with cancer.“I collected her hair, I kept it. I think maybe that helped and I’ve told her that it will grow back.”A week later, doctors informed Holly that Olivia had grade 3 medulloblastoma which often originates in embryonic tissue and is typically diagnosed within the first five years of life, according to Brain Tumour Research.Cancerous malignant brain tumours can either start in the brain or spread there from elsewhere in the body and are more likely to return.“She was a little bit upset about what happened, but when it happened, I think probably because she’s young, she doesn’t really mind too much.“[Doctors] said chemo and radiotherapy could lower her IQ and she would most likely end up with learning difficulties, it was such an impossible decision to make.”They also unfortunately informed her that the cancer had spread to her spine.

More than 12,000 Brits are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour every year — of which around half are cancerous — with 5,300 losing their lives.“There are moments where I sit and think about everything and go off and have a secret cry but I’m just doing what I’ve got to do for Olivia.”There are two main types, with non-cancerous benign tumours growing more slowly and being less likely to return after treatment.After radiotherapy, Olivia suffered from sore, flaky skin, and had extreme nausea and sickness – as a result, she had to be tube-fed for several weeks.

Sobbing, Holly said: “I burst out crying, I was just devastated.”HollyOlivia’s mum

“I don’t go into too much detail, but I told her, she’s got cancer, and she’s got to have some treatments to make her better, and it will take quite a while, that’s all I can do, really.”If you are suffering any of these symptoms, particularly a headache that feels different from the ones you normally get, you should visit your GP.Source: NHSOlivia’s medical team has scheduled another scan for December 4 to reassess the tumour and will begin six to nine months of further chemotherapy on December 9.Brain tumours reduce life expectancies by an average of 27 years, with just 12 per cent of adults surviving five years after diagnosis.Holly cried: “I was just so worried, I didn’t know what was going to happen.Holly Brown, 31, a single stay-at-home mum from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, now hopes to make “precious Christmas memories”, with an uncertain future ahead.Holly, who is fundraising, adds: “I want Christmas to be extra special for all of the children this year.”

Holly and her mother, Amanda, set up a GoFundMe to transform Holly’s home into a Santa’s Grotto for December.Holly initially thought Olivia was suffering from heat stroke in May 2024 after she began vomiting in the hot weather.

The most common symptoms of a brain tumour

Around 52 children are diagnosed with medulloblastoma each year in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK.

To donate for Olivia’s Christmas grotto go to www.gofundme.com/f/give-olivia-and-her-siblings-the-best-christmas.Brain tumours can cause headaches, seizures, nausea, vomiting and memory problems, according to the NHS.Olivia was diagnosed with a grade 3 medulloblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of a brain tumour in children, that later spread to her spine.Until then, the family are uncertain about what lies ahead.Holly faced the devastating choice between Olivia having chemotherapy, offering a 30 per cent survival rate, or combining it with radiotherapy for a 50 per cent chance – but with risks of future learning difficulties.Olivia was admitted overnight for further tests, as brain tumour symptoms include weakness on one side of the body and vision problems.She decided to go with the latter, hoping for positive updated test results on December 4. 

1. Headaches
2. Seizures
3. Feeling sick
4. Being sick
5. Memory problems
6. Change in personality
7. Weakness or paralysis on one side of the body
8. Vision problems
9. Speech problems

“I tell her as much as I can do, age appropriately, in a way that she’ll understand.The disease is the most deadly cancer in children and adults aged under 40, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.