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Parents pay tribute to “brave, bubbly” teen who died after battle with brain cancer

Emma Sim and sister Ellie
Emma Sim and sister Ellie

The parents of a teenager who has lost her battle with brain cancer have described their daughter as a “brave, bubbly” girl who inspired her whole family.

Seventeen-year-old Emma Sim died less than two years after being diagnosed with a brain tumour – the biggest cancer killer of under-40s in the UK.

Her parents have described he lack of funding for research into the disease “unbelievable” and now want her legacy to be a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the condition.

Speaking at the family home in Peterhead, Heather and Graeme Sim said Emma first started to show symptoms of her condition in February last year.

She was more tired than usual and had been sick.

Then aged 15, he was in the middle of intense studying and put her ill health down to stress.

But, sadly, her condition worsened.

“It was just over a couple of weeks that she started to feel ill,” heartbroken mum Heather said.

“She couldn’t read the board at school so we took her to the optician. They said she was fine but her eye turned so we took her back and they sent us right through to Aberdeen.”

Dad Graeme added: “They did tests on her first day, she was sick and the next day she had an MRI. That’s when they spotted the tumour.”

Doctors operated on Emma’s brain to relieve the pressure in her skull and the teenager was transferred to Edinburgh where a needle biopsy confirmed that the tumour was cancerous.

Remarkably, surgeons were able to remove 97% of the tumour and Peterhead Academy pupil Emma recovered well with chemotherapy.

“It meant a lot of travelling back and forth to Edinburgh every two weeks,” Mr Sim said.

“All that time she continued to study for her Highers at school. The academy was very supportive.”

The 17-year-old – described by her family as “caring, loving and fun” – coined the phrase “kill a tumour with humour”.

Emma never had a chance to choose a career, but teachers told the bright youngster’s family their daughter had “people skills that you could not buy”.

In May this year scans revealed that the tumour in Emma’s brain had returned and, although she underwent further rounds of chemotherapy, it was too dangerous for surgeons to operate again.

Heather said: “She managed to get to T in the Park with her cousin, but she really went down hill from around July. In August she took a seizure and began to deteriorate.”

In a last ditch effort to relieve her pain, Graeme and Heather took their eldest daughter to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to try to get her on an experimental drug trial, but her condition had deteriorated too far.

She died at home, surrounded by her family.

Throughout their daughter’s battle with cancer, the Sims were shocked by how little funding was available for research.

Determined to stop other families facing the grief they are now suffering, the couple and Emma’s sister Ellie have set about raising money and awareness.

Mrs Sim said: “Mostly it’s funded by families who are going through it. It’s crazy. You don’t realise until it actually happens just how many children get brain tumours.

“It’s unbelievable how many people get brain tumours and how underfunded it is. When you read about it, it’s shocking.”

Since her death on November 19, pupils at Peterhead Academy have raised more than £3,000 for the Brain Tumour Charity and a further £1,850 was collected at her funeral.

The teenager’s uncle also undertook a 280-mile bike ride from Cambodia to Vietnam, raising a further £6,500 in the process.

Last night, Sarah Lindsell, chief executive of The Brain Tumour Charity, said that the organisation was “immensely grateful” to Emma’s family for their ongoing “determination to help spare others the devastation they are going through”.

Ms Lindsell said: “Brain tumours kill more children and young adults than any other form of cancer, but of the £500million that is spent on cancer research overall in the UK every year, just 2% is invested in research into brain tumours.

“Our goals at The Brain Tumour Charity are to double brain tumour survival and halve the harm that brain tumours cause, but we rely entirely on voluntary donations to fund our work.

She added: “All of the money given so generously by Emma’s family and friends in her memory will help us to save lives like hers in the future.”

In an effort to co-ordinate the funding the family have now set up a JustGiving page and are appealing for donations.

The fundraising page can be found at www.justgiving.com/emma-sim17.