Lauren's story

Eleven-year-old Lauren was diagnosed with an Aneurysmal bone cyst on her skull in February 2011 and needed surgery the very next day to remove the life-threatening growth.

Lauren's mum Rachel explains how the neurosurgery team at The Children's Hospital in Sheffield helped save her daughter's life.

She said: "It was early February and Lauren had been getting headaches for a few days and I was starting to worry that she wasn't breathing properly at night. She then started being sick and her breathing really deteriorated.

"We took Lauren to our local hospital in Chesterfield. Lauren had a CT scan and following this she was transferred to The Children's Hospital for more tests. It was at The Children's Hospital that doctors told us Lauren had a bone cyst on her skull that was putting pressure on her brain.

"The doctors told us that they would need to operate the following day. It was a massive shock but the staff that looked after us that night were absolutely fantastic. They explained everything to us and treated Lauren like she was one of their own, it was so reassuring.

"On Wednesday 16 February Lauren had an 11-hour operation to remove the cyst. All three of the hospital's neurosurgeons worked on our daughter and although it was awful having to wait such a long time to see Lauren we knew she was in the very best hands. We had already heard that the neurosurgery team in Sheffield were highly respected.

"When Lauren came out of the operation she was transferred to the hospital's High Dependency Unit and was later transferred to the hospital's Neurosciences Ward. The surgeons told us the operation had gone very well and they had removed the cyst but it was like nothing they had ever seen before.

"Lauren spent eight days in hospital and all the staff we met were so kind and helpful. It was very comforting to know the staff cared so much about our daughter.

"Lauren is now doing well and is back at school. She comes for CT scans at The Children's Hospital every six months to see if the cyst has grown at all, but thankfully at this point it hasn't and she is doing really well."

We want to provide our neurosurgeons with a state-of-the-art surgical navigation system. Find out how you can help support our theatres department here.