An East London mum, who believes a ride on a rollercoaster helped discover her daughter’s brain tumour, is fundraising to help find a cure for the disease.
Tina Smith, 54, from South Woodford, is taking part in the 2025 TCS London Marathon in aid of Brain Tumour Research, three years after her daughter, Connie Campbell, was diagnosed with a grade 4 medulloblastoma.
The mum-of-two and her family went to Thorpe Park in August 2022, after which Connie, who was 11 at the time, started suffering with headaches and sickness.
Tina said: “There’s a difference between getting thrown around a bit for fun and having your head ricochet so hard you don’t feel right after. Connie and I didn’t go on those rides again, but her dad and brother did.
“It was two days later that she started being sick, which seems too much of a coincidence for the two things not to be related. I suspect the rides dislodged her tumour and, if that’s the case, I’m glad, because I was told we found it at a good time, before it spread to her spine.”
Now aged 13, the impact of her treatment and diagnosis has resulted in delayed development. Connie looks younger than she is and is not hitting growth milestones in the same way as her peers.
After deferring her 2024 place due to a knee injury, Tina is upping her training to complete the iconic 26.2-mile race in London on Sunday 27ᵗʰ April, to raise money for investment in research into brain tumours.
She said: “To answer the questions we have, such as what caused the brain tumour, how do we stop the cancer, and what other treatments are there, I’m going to run the London Marathon to raise awareness and much-needed funds to find these answers.”
You can donate to us via Tina’s JustGiving page, or get involved and fundraise your own way.
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Published Tuesday 14ᵗʰ January 2025.