Heartbroken mum’s campaign as daughter, 13, dies just weeks after tumour diagnosis

A mum is throwing herself into campaigning after she tragically lost her 13-year-old daughter to a brain tumour.

Susan Mountain, from Roberttown, Liversedge, West Yorkshire lost her daughter Maci Craddock in 2017, just two months after she was diagnosed.

Maci was told she had a particularly aggressive and fast-growing form of brain tumour – known as a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) – in August 2017 and now her mum hopes to help families battling the same illness.

Cancer Research explained: “Surgery is not usually possible for these tumours. This is because the tumour is in such a delicate and important area of the brain.

“Doctors usually use radiotherapy to treat them. Researchers are looking into how they can improve the diagnosis and treatment of children with these types of tumours.”

Susa has set up ‘Team Maci’, which has so far raised over £23,600 for Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity alone and even more for other local charities.

Yorkshire Brain Tumour Charity (YBTC) said there is very little research done into DIPG and no cure for children who have the disease. The survival rate ranges form just eight to 12 months

Susan said to Yorkshire Live: “There has been no change in treatment in the last 40 years. Could you imagine hearing that if this was your child? We had so many questions, and so little hope – we want to change that so that no family has to go through what we did.

“We have fundraised tirelessly to raise money for support for children and families like ours, but to also fund vital research.” She added: The tissue bank allows scientists access to children’s tumour tissue for research, giving hope of finding a breakthrough to thousands of families.”

As a mark of her heroic efforts, Susan was nominated locally for ‘The Kate Granger Award for Outstanding Contribution’ at the Yorkshire Choice Award, as well as another award.

Susan added: “There has been no change in treatment in the last 40 years. Could you imagine hearing that if this was your child? We had so many questions, and so little hope – we want to change that so that no family has to go through what we did.

“We have fundraised tirelessly to raise money for support for children and families like ours, but to also fund vital research.” She added: The tissue bank allows scientists access to children’s tumour tissue for research, giving hope of finding a breakthrough to thousands of families.”

Jennifer Aspinall, Regional Fundraiser at YBTC, said: “Susan and Team Maci have been instrumental in the research YBTC has funded, and are the reason that the charity became involved with re-instating the Leeds tissue bank.

“We are incredibly grateful to Susan and her family for their phenomenal fundraising, and are so pleased to hear about Susan’s well-deserved nomination in recognition of her hard work supporting small charities like ours.”