'Ten operations and still fighting' - family praises brave Lyla O’Donovan as she faces month in hospital

Lyla O’Donovan’s parents Paul and Kirsty have been told she faces a three-to-four-week stay in hospital where doctors will try to induce a seizure in a bid to find out more about her health.

Today, dad Paul, 35, from Hartlepool, said the stay could include sleep deprivation to bring on the seizure.

The news comes after Lyla’s trip to specialists in Bristol where she faced more tests and her family was given fresh news.

Paul explained: “They told us that she has to go back in to hospital for three-to-four weeks where she will have a lot of tests and they will provoke a seizure where they might find out more on the cause of the seizures.”

The aim will be to find out whether they are having an effect on her tumour and causing her brain damage, and whether Lyla faces more surgery.

But if they are not affecting Lyla’s brain, there is a possibility she could go without further surgery and live a life with seizures, said her dad.

Sadly, Lyla had another seizure in the hotel in Bristol before her hospital appointment and Paul said: “She was tearful because she was hundreds of miles from her mam and it was nervy for her.

"I think it was from her being scared and anxious, and yet she made minimum fuss.”

Paul recently shared a Hartlepool Mail front page from 2016 on social media, from when Lyla was first diagnosed. He reflected on the day they first found out that Lyla had a brain tumour and how his brave daughter is still fighting now.

"It is crazy when you think about what she has been through,” he said. “The 17th of this month will be the fourth anniversary of that major surgery. There was a 50/50 chance that she would survive.

"And yet she is still really positive and she smiles about things. She has been through ten operations and she is still fighting.”

Lyla’s story is an amazing one.

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

But as always, Lyla soon fought back.

The amazing seven-year-old climbed Roseberry Topping less than three weeks after having brain surgery.

Yet Lyla has never stopped thinking of others despite everything she is going through herself and launched a project to help other children who, like her, have to face up to needles and operations in hospital. She organised 500 stress balls to be sent to other poorly children.

Paul is from Hartlepool and the family now lives in Ushaw Moor, near Durham.

He explained how Lyla always wants to do something for other sick children and recently asked her dad to send a teddy bear to a poorly boy because she knew a teddy had been a comfort to her.

Their daughter’s inspirational story led to her becoming one of the winners of a Child of Courage trophy at the 2019 Best of Hartlepool Awards.

You can follow Lyla and her story by visiting the Lyla’s brain tumour journey page on Facebook.

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Hartlepool Mail website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit here to sign up. You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here. Thank you.