Schoolgirl launched a global campaign, connecting with thousands worldwide to find kinder cancer treatments for children.
Kirsty was 10 when she began experiencing eyesight problems, memory lapses and fatigue in 2024. Then in November of that year, she was sick out of the blue and taken to hospital where an MRI scan revealed a brain tumour.
She had a seven-hour operation, but surgeons were unable to remove much of the tumour, which she nicknamed Terry, so she began a 70-week course of chemotherapy.
Despite impaired vision, Kirsty, from Tunbridge Wells, had just learned to crochet and so continued by touch, creating a bunting triangle to represent every chemo session and raise funds for cancer research. Her ‘Crochet for Cancer’ campaign raised more than £120,000 for Children With Cancer UK.
At the end of last year, she was told her treatment had stopped working, though it had unexpectedly restored much of her eyesight, and she had to begin a new 85-week plan. Undeterred by side effects including pain, hair loss, sickness and breathlessness, she launched ‘My Name Is Kirsty’, a global campaign aiming to track down her namesakes, mapping them digitally to raise funds for brain tumour research.
Kirsty, now 12, has already connected with more than 14,000 Kirstys across the world, in more than 50 countries and all seven continents. Donations through her website have already raised more than £125,000 for OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity.
Her dad Mat says: “Kirsty’s tumour is benign, but as the charities explain, ‘Benign isn’t fine’, because it’s growing in a place it can’t grow.
“Unfortunately about 17 weeks into the second chemo treatment, Kirsty got an allergic reaction, so we’re now waiting on a new plan.
“It’s been tough. She’s had to cope with an ever-changing list of consequences from both the chemo and the tumour itself, however she tries to live in the moment and put a positive spin on things.
“Kirsty loves to crochet, so that was the inspiration for her first campaign. Then when Kirsty learned about the injustice of the lack of funding for research into childhood brain tumours, even though they are a leading cause of cancer death, she really wanted to do something to help.
“She said, ‘Why don’t I just ask people called Kirsty?’ It was a real slow burn at first but now it’s genuinely gone worldwide.”
Kirsty says: “This year I’m trying to show how much everyone cares about children with brain tumours, and raise money to find cures and better treatments, wherever they are in the world.”
