A BRIDGWATER toddler living with a life-threatening brain tumour is helping to fund the fight against the disease, a year on from her devastating diagnosis.

Little Ryleigh Godfrey, aged three, has recently finished a three-month course of chemotherapy treatment and is now embarking on her next challenge.

She will be participating in a fundraising walk as part of the Brain Tumour Research charity’s Big Little Walk of Hope campaign, with her family and friends, on Saturday, June 29.

Ryleigh will complete the event in her push chair, as she is unable to walk due to complications from her last operation.

Ryleigh started suffering from head tilt and sickness in May 2018 and, after going to and from the GP for several weeks, she soon began struggling to walk.

An MRI scan revealed the news that she was living with an aggressive brain tumour and she was rushed from Taunton to Bristol by ambulance to undergo a 20-hour surgery.

Ryleigh has since endured countless operations, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and will have a follow-up scan on June 19.

Her mum Kay Parsons and dad Lee Godfrey know all too well she faces a future which is far from certain.

Kay, 31, said: “There are no words to describe how it feels to be your told little girl has a brain tumour.

"Ryleigh is such a sweet little thing and this seems so unfair. Even our consultant said we had the worst luck ever.

"Not only is the tumour aggressive, it’s also in a hard-to-reach place and there have been so many setbacks.

“Her tumour is a grade 3 ependymoma and we were told it was likely it had been growing in her brain stem for some time.

"While the first operation was successful in removing most of the tumour there were complications including hydrocephalus as fluid built up on her brain.

"Ryleigh was back in theatre on numerous occasions to have a shunt fitted and various adjustments.

"It was a living nightmare and I have lost count of how many times we said goodbye as she was taken back into surgery. Ryleigh’s tumour recurred and she had to go through another operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.”

Kay added: “Now, we’re facing a very worrying time as we prepare ourselves for Ryleigh’s latest scan.

"If she needs further treatment, the doses she has already had mean she can’t have more radiotherapy until October and that seems such a long, long way away with something as aggressive as this.

“We want to do all we can to raise awareness of brain tumours in order to give something back and to help other patients and families.

"Several of our friends and family members have offered to join us on our Big Little Walk of Hope and we are thankful for their support and generous donations.”

To sponsor the family go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Kay-Parsons1.