Brave Manly 8-year-old girl Carys Bradshaw dies from rare brain cancer
Hundreds have farewelled Carys Bradshaw, an eight-year-old northern beaches girl who bravely battled a rare and aggressive type of brain cancer before she died earlier this month.
Manly
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A BRAVE little girl, whose Christian name Carys translates to the word “love” in Welsh, was farewelled at a packed funeral in Manly.
Carys Bradshaw, was just eight years old when she died on April 6, less than 18 months after being diagnosed with a rare, aggressive brain cancer.
The popular pupil from Manly West Public School was described by her mother Rachel Lau, during her eulogy at St Matthew’s Anglican Church on Thursday, as “perfect”.
Carys spent her last days at Manly’s Bear Cottage hospice for children.
Ms Lau and Carys’s father, Jack Bradshaw, asked that those attending the funeral not wear black but colourful and cheerful clothing instead.
Carys started getting headaches and being sick in December 2016. She was soon diagnosed with a cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG.
It has no cure. Carys was not expected to live more than 12 months.
Her parents, who have a younger daughter, Maya, found a medical trial in London in their native UK. The northern beaches community helped raise more than $300,000 for the treatment so they could spend more precious time with Carys.
It uses revolutionary, robot-led technology. Tiny catheters, less than half a millimetre thick, were put into Carys’s head to deliver chemotherapy drugs.
But the family was told in November that the brain tumour had spread and there was nothing else doctors could do.
Ms Lau told the congregation: “So we brought Carys home.”
She said “my little Carys was an amazing girl” who lit up a room with her mesmerising eyes and had a smile that “could melt your heart”.
“She was an infectious, playful little thing ... and a determined little daredevil,” Ms Lau said. “Carys was beautiful and graceful, yet strong and determined.
“She will be forever young, forever pure and forever innocent,” Ms Lau said.
“She was perfect.”
Ms Lau also thanked all those people who helped raise money for the treatment in the UK and supported the family.
The family also asked that instead of flowers people make a donation to Bear Cottage.
To donate, go to http://www.bearcottage.chw.edu.au/donate.php, using the reference “Donation for Carys”.
