Brave seven-year-old Lyla O’Donovan prepares for 10th brain tumour operation

Seven-year-old Lyla O’Donovan is due to undergo surgery at Newcastle’s RVI hospital on Friday, May 22, to try to reduce the number of dangerous and frightening seizures she regularly suffers.

It will be her tenth time on the operating table since she was diagnosed with the tumour in 2016 at the age of just three.

Lyla has also come through meningitis, been treated for hydrocephalus and had a shunt put into her head, all in the last four years.

Surgeons gave the go-ahead for the operation, which she was due to have in March, after she was tested for coronavirus.

Dad Paul O’Donovan, from Hartlepool, said: “Lyla is like a child at Christmas. She is so excited and is counting down the days.

“The rest of us are really worried. It’s not a good time to go to hospital with the virus.

“But I’ve got every trust in the consultants. If they think it’s OK to do it now then I will go with what they say.”

In the operations, surgeons will put a cable in Lyla’s brain through a hole in her skull and puncture a hole in a ventricle at the back of her brain.

The hope is that it will allow fluid in Lyla’s brain to flow more freely and prevent pressure building up which causes her seizures.

Due to ongoing visiting restrictions only one parent will be allowed with Lyla at any time.

Supporters have been keeping Lyla’s spirits up by sending her good luck messages to her Instagram and Facebook pages including singer JK and pro boxer Billy Joe Saunders.

Paul, 35, married to Kirsty 34, added: “Every time we open the inbox it’s full. It’s unbelieveabe the support she gets.

“It helps put her mind off things and is so appreciated.”

Lyla’s family who now live in Ushaw Moor, near Durham, are supporters of the Brain Tumour Research charity to raise awareness of the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40.

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