Girl on long road of treatment for brain tumour

Trish Robichaud knew something was wrong with her three-year-old daughter Brielle even though a series of tests and visits to doctors and hospital in Red Deer didnt find any problems.

So on Jan. 22, when the registered nurse saw that her daughter had a stiff neck and back, and fearing meningitis, Trish decided to take Bri, as she is known, straight to the Alberta Childrens Hospital in Calgary.

They arrived at 8 a.m. Four hours later, doctors began a six-hour emergency brain surgery on the little girl. It would be the first of four surgeries shes had since arriving at the hospital.

Speaking to me Wednesday, on Day 21 as she called it, and an hour before Bri was to begin 18 months of chemotherapy, Trish said a CT scan and MRI in Calgary led to the discovery of a very large tumour growing in the middle of Bris brain that probably had been growing there for a long time.

Its in a bad spot of her brain, where her optic chiasm and hypothalmus are, and near her pituitary gland, said Trish. Thats all bad but what was even worse than that was the tumour was blocking the pathway of her cerebral spinal fluid ... filling her head with fluid ... which was threatening her life.

Neurosurgeons couldnt remove the tumour safely. It is considered benign but now has to be treated with chemotherapy to keep it from growing. Bri is too young to have radiation.

The location is so scary they have no choice but to treat it, said Trish, who hasnt left the hospital since the day they arrived there. Trish, 35, and husband Nick Robichaud, 36, assistant superintendant at Alberta Springs golf course, have one bed and a lawn chair to sleep in as they stay by her side.

Today were really happy because shes happy, said Trish. They are very glad the surgeries are over. Besides the initial surgery, Bri has also had a drain and shunt implanted, as well as a port that will enable the chemotherapy.

Obviously we have tears. Her and I. We both shed tears every single day and there are things that are very painful but shes such a good kid. Shes so easy-going and so likable. ... Everybody loves her. Shes the nicest little girl. She puts up with so much, a tired-sounding Trish said.

The parents of both Trish and Nick also live in Red Deer and are helping to look after the Robichauds other children sons Xavier, seven, and Taj, five.

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Girl on long road of treatment for brain tumour