Hartlepool dad hails amazing daughter as she is allowed home from hospital just a day after 10th brain operation

Lyla O’Donovan, aged seven, who has been battling a brain tumour for four years, went under the knife at Newcastle’s RVI Hospital on Friday, May 22.

The operation to help relieve the pressure in Lyla’s brain which has been causing a worrying number of seizures, was success.

And on the Saturday, Lyla was well enough to return home to be with her loving family and begin her recovery.

Dad Paul O’Donovan, from Hartlepool, said: “I don’t know what it is but she just amazes everyone with how quickly she recovers.

“The surgery went well and she got through it with no complications.

“The decision was made she could come home and if anything changed we would bring her straight back.

“You recover better at home with your home comforts and Lyla was missing her mam.”

Her quick recovery is all the more remarkable considering surgeons removed part of Lyla’s skull and punctured a hole in her brain to relieve the build up of fluid and pressure.

Paul, 35, and mum Kirsty, 34, hope it will give Lyla possibly years before she may need a riskier operation around the stem of her brain.

“Eventually, the hole is going to close and we are looking at being back where we were a few weeks ago,” said Paul, now of Ushaw Moor.

“We just have to live for now and not look into the future too much.”

Despite the expected soreness and tiredness, Lyla is her usual bright self with spells of singing and dancing.

She spent the weekend being treated to sweets and watching Disney movies.

“She’s doing brilliant,” added Paul. “She's up and about enjoying herself.

“Because of the kind of operation she’s had her recovery will probably take eight to 12 weeks.”

Paul, also dad to Henry, Olivia, Lilley and Reece, documents Lyla’s ups and downs on the Facebook page Lyla's Brain Tumour Journey.

Her courage has helped many people going through hard times themselves, and Lyla and Lilley have awarded hundreds of their own certificates to them.

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