Erskine school does walk as pupil diagnosed with brain tumour

Pupils from St Anne’s Primary School took part in the walk on Friday, November 29, raising money for charity Brain Tumour Research.

They were joined by parents and other members of the local community, with hundreds taking part and wearing pink to show their support.

(Image: Brain Tumour Research) P1 pupil Riley Thompson (above), aged five, from Elderslie in Renfrewshire, was diagnosed in March with an optic nerve glioma, a rare brain tumour the size of a golf ball.

After undergoing a life-saving operation to remove the mass, surgeons had to remove Riley’s right eye in the process.

(Image: Lucy Jackson)

(Image: Lucy Jackson) The tumour was found to be benign, but Riley has since undergone several minor surgeries as a result of complications to the wound from his initial operation.

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His most recent surgery was just three weeks ago, when he had a minor operation to wash out his wound and clean the area where his eye was removed.

(Image: Lucy Jackson) Riley pictured with acting head teacher Claire Mackenzie (Image: Lucy Jackson) Riley chose the song which played as the pupils started their walk, Elton John’s I’m Still Standing. He was also presented with a pink trophy after the walk by acting head teacher Claire Mackenzie as a way to remember the day.

‘The beginning of a new chapter’

Riley’s parents, Nicole and Sam Thompson, said they were “humbled” by the amount of support the community had shown towards their family.

(Image: Brain Tumour Research)

Right: Riley pictured on the sponsored walk with his parents Nicole and Sam (Image: Lucy Jackson) They decided to do a “99 Miles in November” walking challenge to fundraise for Brain Tumour Research, raising more than £2500.

You can donate to the family’s fundraiser via the JustGiving page here.

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Speaking to the Gazette after the walk, Nicole said: “Right now, I’m feeling emotional. Just very humbled by everybody’s support.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind eight months, and six months since the initial operation.

“We wanted to do this walking challenge for Brain Tumour Research to give us something to focus on as a family.

(Image: Lucy Jackson) (Image: Lucy Jackson) (Image: Lucy Jackson) “We hope he’s had the last invasive procedure, and now we can start to move on and recover mentally.

“Today seems to be the beginning of a new chapter.”

Nicole said the walk was filled with “positivity and hope”.

She said: “At the end of the day, we are very lucky that we have Riley – they discovered it [the tumour], removed it, it’s hopefully not going to progress.

“We are one of the lucky ones and to have all this overwhelming support from the school and the community has just been amazing.”

Nicole said she was initially worried about how the other kids might react when they realised Riley no longer had a right eye.

“I remember dropping him off at schools' club the morning when he had his dressing off for the first time.

(Image: Lucy Jackson) (Image: Lucy Jackson) “The school children and the teacher hadn’t seen his eyes, it was covered up, and I was just so nervous of how he was going to be.

“But as usual, Riley just takes it all in his stride. He’s such a superhero, he just gets on with it.

“When kids asked what happened to his eye, his response was: ‘Oh, there was a bad poo poo thing in it, the doctors had to take it away and then they had to take my eye out as well. But now it’s better.’”

She added that the other kids had even pretended to have just one eye to make Riley feel more comfortable.

(Image: Lucy Jackson) (Image: Lucy Jackson) “They’ll just joke and laugh about it, and that’s it.”

The school has so far raised £1620 for Brain Tumour Research, a charity which funds research into finding a cure for brain tumours.