A thirteen year old patient from Wilmslow in Cheshire ran nearly 100km for charity while undergoing treatment for a brain tumour at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust.
Maya Tohid has been nominated by nearly 80 people for a Pride of Britain and a JustGiving award for her achievement.
During her treatment, she came up with the idea of running 100k to raise awareness of brain tumours and to raise money for the charity Young Lives vs Cancer. She has raised over £10,000 so far.
'I still can't quite believe it'
She said: “I was so happy when I found out. I started doing the challenge because I wanted to do something I hated to raise awareness, I never thought that so many people would be interested. I still can’t quite believe it. And I actually like running now. I can go much further than I could when I was ill.”
Maya was diagnosed with a craniopharyngioma, an uncommon type of brain tumour, after having headaches so severe that she couldn’t get out of bed.
She underwent an initial operation at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to drain the cystic part of her tumour, but unfortunately the solid part was too close to critical parts of the brain to be operated on.
Maya was then referred to The Christie, a specialist cancer centre in Manchester, for 28 sessions of daily proton beam therapy, a type of radiotherapy.
'It brought us real hope'
Mahta Tohid, Maya’s mother, said: “Initially, I wasn’t sure about it as treatment is tough enough, let alone adding anything else into the mix. But in the end, it was a really positive thing for us. It brought us real hope and gave us something positive to focus on as a family. The fact that she raised so much money is brilliant as well.”
Maya finished her treatment in October last year and her most recent scans show that her tumour is stable. She has regular check-ups with her teams at the children’s hospital and The Christie but is back at school and back doing the things she loves – ice skating, playing the violin and running.
You can view Maya's JustGiving page here, and vote in the 2024 GoCardless JustGiving Awards 2024 here.
(Image: Maya Tohid)