Our family moved to New Zealand from England in September 2005. Over the next 20 months we settled into the community of Havelock North in Hawkes Bay. Georgina struggled at first in her new surroundings missing her family and friends back in the UK, however Georgina did settle and New Zealand soon became her home. Georgina was a very fit and healthy young girl, enjoying competitive swim training several times a week, looking after her pony and riding most weekends. Life seemed good for us all, little did we know how our lives would change.

Georgina had been complaining of mild headaches for about six weeks prior to diagnosis, these appeared to occur randomly mostly after returning home from school. We thought that Georgina may need glasses and booked her in for an eye test. We saw the Optician on the Friday afternoon who appeared concerned about signs of pressure behind Georgina's eyes, she referred us to the Ophthalmologist at Hastings hospital. Following this appointment he confirmed that there was raised intracranial pressure and gave us an inclination that a Tumour could cause this, a referral was made for the next available MRI scan this being Tuesday P.M.

A long three days and nights followed for Debbie and myself, Georgina however appeared unconcerned and even insisted on sleeping over at her friends house on the Saturday. We kept Georgina off school and attended the MRI scan on Tuesday afternoon. This confirmed our worse fears, our daughter had a brain tumour.

Georgina was admitted to the children's ward in Hastings Hospital, immediate steps were made to fly Georgie to the Starship Hospital in Auckland early the following morning.

The next morning Georgina and Debbie were flown to Starship children's  hospital in Auckland, I then set off on the long drive to Auckland with Georgina's two younger brothers Jake and William.

On arrival Georgina and Debbie were taken to the Neurology Surgical Ward 26a and assessed by the medical and nursing teams. I arrived mid afternoon and after consultation with the surgeon we were advised that surgery would take place the following morning to relieve pressure and resect the tumour. Georgina was allowed to stay with us that night in the Ronald McDonald House which is located on the hospital grounds.

Georgina's surgery took place the next morning and lasted approx 5 hours during which the surgeon's were able to partially resect the Tumour and take a biopsy. Georgina recovered well and spent minimum time in the High Dependency Unit, amazing us all with her resilience and fitness.

Within days my parents Bill and Avril arrived from the UK and although Georgina recovered well she was still required to remain in hospital for further observation. We decided that my parents and the two boys should return to Havelock and to school whilst we concentrated on Georgina's recovery.

One week after surgery we were discharged from Starship to await the biopsy results. Prior to leaving Starship we had a meeting with the medical team and we were informed that after initial results, Georgina had a low grade malignant Tumour and both Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy would be required. However the main biopsy results were still pending from overseas.

We set off home on the Friday stopping for lunch in Cambridge when we received a call from the doctors back at Starship who said that after a review of the previous days MRI scan it had been decided that fluid had started to build and that surgery was required to fit a Shunt to drain the excess fluid. Georgina seemed unfased by the news and insisted on having lunch before we returned to Auckland

Georgina's 2nd surgery within 9 days took place first thing Saturday morning, prior to surgery Georgina was positive and matter of fact about the whole situation. Due to the nature of the operation which not only involves placing a shunt within the ventricals of the brain but tunneling under the skin from her head to her abdomen to place the drainage tube. Georgina suffered extreme pain during recovery that day but by early evening had rallied and was back to her positive and smiling self, insisting on leaving the HDU and returning back to the ward. Within a few days we were on our way back home to Havelock.

We were then waiting for what seemed like a lifetime for the results to come back from overseas to enable the start of treatment. At the end of July I received a phone call from the Oncologist who gave the news that the Tumour was a Anaplastic Astrocytoma Grade 3-4 and we were informed that prognosis could be as little as 12 months from diagnosis. Immediate plans were made for us to return to Auckland to begin a joint Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy treatment which would last for several weeks.

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