Aisling is a 13 year old girl from Clontarf in Dublin. She was heavily involved in gymnastics and Athletics.
In May this year Aisling came home from Athletics one day in a lot of pain in her back so her parents called the VHI clinic and they advise to take her to Temple Street.
They went into Temple Street and they said Aisling may have sciatica and advised a course of physiotherpy but this proved too sore and did not work to lift the pains.
Aisling parents brought her to their local GP who booked a MRI scan and once the results came back their local GP called to the family house to tell them that she had found a tumor in the scans.
Further tests were done in Temple street and then Beaumount hospital and after numerous tests and MRI/CT Scans she was diagnosed with Anaplastic ependymoma.
Anaplastic ependymoma is a tumor that forms when cells in the central nervous system (including the brain and spinal cord) begin to multiply rapidly.
Aisling has had surgery in Beaumont Hospital over the August Bank Holiday weekend and remained in hospital for 2 weeks to recover.
This type of tumor does not respond to chemotherapy so now Aisling requires specialist radiation treatment called Proton Therapy in Essen in Germany to kill any remaining cells present.
Aisling will undergo 6 weeks of proton therapy and is due to travel over the coming weeks.