A British mother is absolutely devastated after her son was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor, following the sudden death of her teenage daughter.
Anne Siddall, 55, was still coming to terms with the death of her 15-year-old daughter, Madeline, from cardiac arrest, when her 24-year-old son, Archie, was diagnosed with glioblastoma of the brain in October.
She told SWNS that it is “unbearable” to even think that she could lose her two children in such a short time.
“If I think about it too much, I go to a very dark place,” he admitted.
“They told us [Archie’s] the tumor was incurable. We have not asked for a forecast; We just didn’t want to go there.”
Siddall and her husband, Craig, began noticing strange behavior in their son shortly before his diagnosis.
She remembered Archie, father of 1-year-old Amelia, who couldn’t remember certain things, like what they were having for dinner.
“When they worked together, Craig would ask Archie to bring something from his truck,” Anne explained. “But he would come back empty-handed because he couldn’t remember what they had asked him.”
At first the doctors put it down to stress, but Archie started having severe headaches.
When he was taken back to the hospital, he was reportedly told that he had a migraine. His parents were not convinced.
“I felt that something more sinister was going on,” Anne said. “Archie became extremely lethargic and he just wanted to sleep all the time.”
She also noticed that he acted confused and even aggressive at certain times.
Craig took him back to the hospital, where he was able to have a CT scan that finally revealed the cancer.
Anne said the surgeons were able to remove about half of the tumor, but were unable to remove the rest as it was too deep in her brainstem.
After the procedure, he underwent six weeks of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. It is said that she is now receiving six cycles of chemotherapy in tablet form.
“We’re trying to make memories with Archie and his little Amelia, but Archie has short-term memory loss, so it’s hard for him to remember what we’ve done,” Anne said.
To raise money for the UK charity Brain Tumor Research, he will be taking part in the ‘Jog 26.2 Miles in May Challenge’.
Participants are tasked with running the length of a marathon, 26.2 miles, over the course of a month.
“We are so grateful to Anne for accepting the ‘Run 26.2 Miles in May’ challenge, as only with the support of people like her can we advance our brain tumor research and improve the outcome for patients like Archie who look forced to fight this terrible disease,” Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumor Research, told SWNS.
Meanwhile, the Siddalls are just trying to take things one day at a time, praising those who help them along the way.
“I’m humbled by the generosity of people and the kindness of everyone who helped my family or came to visit Archie when he was in the hospital, it’s touching,” said Anne.