{"id":282483,"date":"2025-11-25T12:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/282483\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:58:13","slug":"southampton-patient-aged-3-is-1000th-to-have-proton-beam-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/282483\/","title":{"rendered":"Southampton patient aged 3 is 1,000th to have proton beam therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Seren was diagnosed in July with a type of brain cancer called ependymoma, following a family holiday in Devon.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Her father, Mark, recounted how Seren appeared &#8220;a little out of sorts and wobbly&#8221; after their trip, which prompted a hospital visit that led to the discovery of her brain tumour.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/25620593.pudsey-treats-children-magical-surprise-visit-southampton-hospital\/?ref=ial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pudsey treats children to &#8216;magical&#8217; surprise visit at Southampton hospital<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Seren underwent an MRI scan at Southampton General Hospital which confirmed the tumour could be operated on. (Image: UCLH NHS Foundation Trust)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Seren, from Bournemouth, was rushed to University Hospital Southampton\u2019s specialist children\u2019s neurological ward, and an MRI scan in Southampton General Hospital confirmed the tumour could be operated on.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Her mother, Clare, said: &#8220;It was a complete whirlwind \u2013 one minute Seren was a healthy three-year-old having fun on holiday and the next we were being transferred to Southampton with a really serious diagnosis.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Although we were extremely worried, we felt fortunate that the tumour was operable.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The surgery took place on July 8, with the team managing to remove the tumour over 12 hours.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Subsequent tests confirmed that the tumour was cancerous, indicating the need for follow-up treatment.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Seren was discharged from University Hospital Southampton in mid-August, having undergone weeks of physiotherapy and support to help her recover from her operation, including learning to walk and swallow again.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The family travelled to London at the end of August for six weeks of proton beam therapy treatment at University College London Hospital&#8217;s Proton Beam Therapy Centre.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/25638287.nieces-cancer-journey-inspires-woman-raise-thousands-charity\/?ref=ial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Niece\u2019s cancer journey inspires woman to raise thousands for charity<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Dr Jenny Gains, consultant oncologist and Seren\u2019s doctor, said: &#8220;Every patient is different but for Seren, PBT is an ideal treatment to follow up on the surgery that removed her tumour.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;As she is only three, her brain is still developing and she obviously has a lot of growing still to do.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mum Clare said: &#8220;We feel incredibly fortunate that Seren has been able to have proton beam therapy in the UK as we know that only a few years ago people had to travel abroad for this treatment.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;The fact that she is the 1000th NHS patient to be treated here is really special.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Seren\u2019s parents said she is slowly getting back to herself, and is looking forward to seeing her friends and starting school next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seren was diagnosed in July with a type of brain cancer called ependymoma, following a family holiday in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-282483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}