Like all young children, Aubrey Rothery had her fair share of bumps and accidents with furniture.
But what most parents would understandably attribute to the rough years of childhood ended up being a sign of a form of cancer that kills most sufferers within a year.
Aubrey’s parents, Andrew, 54, and Samantha, 51, thought something was wrong when their seven-year-old son kept losing his balance and bumping into objects.
But they initially dismissed it as the result of a growth spurt.
When the accidents continued to happen, the pair sought the help of medics to determine the cause of Aubrey’s accidents.
Aubrey Rothery, 7, has been diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer called diffuse midline glioma (DIPG)
His parents revealed they became concerned after the active schoolboy developed problems with his balance and bumped into furniture
An MRI scan eventually revealed these problems were due to a tumor growing in his brain, with the family receiving the devastating diagnosis last month. Pictured: Aubrey’s mother, Samantha Hibbert, comforts her son in the hospital
An MRI scan revealed that their ‘beloved beautiful boy’ had diffuse midline glioma (DIPG).
The rare brain tumor, which affects around 20 to 30 children every year in Britain, mainly occurs in children between the ages of five and 10.
It grows in the midline, between the two hemispheres of the brain, and kills the majority of those who get it within a year.
Only 2 percent of patients live five years after their diagnosis.
On average, patients diagnosed with DIPG can expect to survive between eight and eleven months.
The cancer grows through the brain and causes several symptoms, but among the most common are problems with walking, coordination, or balance.
Mr Rothery, a community development worker from Newton Abbot, Devon, said the family was “in pieces” after Aubrey’s shock diagnosis in February.
“It was very subtle to begin with, he was bumping into pieces of furniture,” he said.
‘He had grown quite a bit and is quite lanky, lively and active and we thought he just didn’t realize where he was going.
‘This all happened within two days, our lives turned upside down out of nowhere.
‘It feels like hope is in some ways the most important thing we have to hold on to – the diagnosis is harsh and the prognosis is quite bleak.
“We were just in pieces, it was an incredible shock.”
He added: ‘This cannot happen to our beloved beautiful boy.’
After Aubrey was sent home from school due to his balance problems, his parents took him to the doctor because they suspected he might have a viral infection.
Their GP then urged them to go to hospital immediately.
He is now being treated at Bristol Children’s Hospital and is receiving radiotherapy, where medics use targeted blasts of radiation to kill tumours.
His parents said that before his diagnosis, Aubrey was always on the go and enjoyed playing outside, bouncing on the family trampoline and dancing.
But now he spends most of his days in bed and can only play for about 10 minutes before needing to rest.
Mr Rothery and Ms Hibbert, a full-time mother, said they try not to lose hope, but recognize the reality that DIPG patients do not have a good prognosis.
“It’s devastating, we’ve responded the way you do as a parent, you do whatever you can do for your children and that’s what we do,” Mr Rothery said,
“If you look at the survival history around this tumor, there aren’t many people who have survived.
Aubrey’s mother, Samantha, and father, Andrew Rothery, say they are trying to hold on to hope and are researching possible clinical trials for DIPG that their son may qualify for. In the photo: the family at Christmas
‘We looked and didn’t find much evidence of survivors after five years, but that doesn’t mean this can’t happen.
‘What we’re focusing on is hope and positivity – it’s common knowledge among cancer survivors that positivity and the hope that you will survive are absolutely crucial.
“We are building on this sense of positivity, support and love from us and his family, friends and the wider community.”
The couple hopes to raise awareness about the cancer by raising money for possible treatments for Aubrey’s disease.
They are currently exploring possible clinical trials for DIPG, but say Aubrey must undergo a biopsy to be eligible.
Such a biopsy is a challenging prospect given the location of the cancer and the type of tumors that cause DIPG, which are difficult to distinguish from healthy tissue.
So far they have raised over £10,000 towards a £25,000 target.
DIPG symptoms vary depending on the specific nature and location of the tumor.
Including balance problems, the most common signs of DIPG are weakness in the arms and legs, difficulty controlling facial expressions or keeping one side of the face from looking different from the other, speech problems, difficulty swallowing or chewing, and vision problems such as double vision or not being able to control the eyes.
Scientists still don’t understand what activates DIPG in the first place.
Radiation therapy is the standard DIPG treatment, due to its location in the brain and the fact that it is extremely difficult to distinguish between cancer and healthy tissue. Surgery is usually impossible.
