Inspirational youngsters honoured at council award night

DANIEL Bryan lost his father to bowel cancer, then a week later started having violent headaches.

His concerned mother Karen thought the six-year-old's pain was caused by the stress of losing his dad. But he actually had a rare type of tumour in his head, behind his eyes.

Daniel has since undergone 30 sessions of radiotherapy and two operations, although the tumour will never be removed completely. Only 10 other people in the Midlands have the same type of tumour. Sufferers lose their sight if they are not operated on soon enough.

Karen, 37, of Ilkeston, said: "He was ill every day for two years. The headaches were extremely tiring, he could not move and he would not eat.

"He would be laid up for days and there was nothing the doctors could give him to take the pain away. But they can't remove it either, because it's in a strange place. They don't really know how to get rid of it.

"The radiotherapy didn't do what they wanted it to, so he had another operation. They took lining from his nose and put it into the tumour, to try to drain the fluid building up.

"Now we're keeping our fingers crossed. If it grows back again and damages his optic nerve, his sight could go altogether."

Despite his illness Daniel, now eight, has rarely complained about the level of pain he has faced. He has returned to class at Scargil Primary School, in West Hallam, after being forced to leave due to the tumour. Head teacher Norma Ross describes him as an "inspiration".

His energy has returned for the moment, so he is living life to the full – swimming, kick-boxing and learning to play the guitar and the trombone.

Although he faces more operations in the future, and still gets the odd pain, Daniel makes sure his mum knows as soon as possible that they are not "tumour headaches".

His head teacher was so proud of his courage she nominated him for a Young Achievers Award, handed out by Derbyshire County Council.

Yesterday, children across the county got the honour. Daniel said he was "really happy" to get the award.

Another recipient was Fern Nicholls, of Heage, who underwent open-heart surgery earlier this year.

She suffers from coarctation – or narrowing – of the main artery from the heart. Doctors to had to cut it open to expand it, then sew it back together.

The condition was only picked up after her mother, Rebecca, 37, mentioned to the doctor that her daughter had a heart murmur when she was younger.

Despite spending days in hospital, the youngster took part in a three-mile sponsored walk weeks after the surgery to raise money for Heartlink at the Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester, where she was treated.

Remarkably, it was the second time the eight-year-old's life had been saved. She was born prematurely when doctors found fluid building up in her mother's abdomen, which would have drowned her. She then spent four weeks in a baby unit after the birth.

"We've had quite a bit of trauma with her," said Rebecca, who lives in School Lane with Fern, husband David, 40, and other daughter Thea, four. "When it came to heart surgery, the doctor said it was a no-brainer – have the operation or she would die. Fern is very laid back about everything. She just said, 'I can't understand how they've got into my heart'."

Fern was nominated for a Young Achievers Award by Rebecca, who says she has "always known how special" her daughter is.

"We love her and we are really proud of her," she said.

Cameron Ball, six, of South Normanton, also got an award last night.

He was born with neurogenic muscular atrophy and clubfoot. His parents were told he would probably never walk.

But despite medical predictions, he worked hard at daily exercises to strengthen his muscles and did not give up until he was walking.

He has been in and out of hospital and has had three operations to date, but the brave youngster never complains.

At school, he deals with comments from other pupils by telling them: "Some people are born different – that's life".

Cameron, nominated by proud mum Joanne, goes swimming, attends Beavers and horse-rides – receiving a trophy for his hard work.

Derbyshire County Council leader Andrew Lewer praised all the winners.

He said: "We are very proud to recognise the outstanding achievements of these incredible young people. Too often young people get a bad press and the blame when things go wrong. But we know the majority work hard to do good things for their communities, families, schools and for each other. And often, despite incredible odds, some are truly exceptional."