The “worst news” on Father’s Day
When Freya, then 3, took a tumble from her nest swing on Father’s Day (June 15th) last year, her parents were told to take her to A&E to get checked out. “She had a funny turn,” explained her dad, Bradley. “In A&E they did a CT scan, looking for a chipped bone or bleed, but were totally surprised by the huge frontal lobe tumour taking over her head space.”
Freya’s parents were told she needed surgery quickly, because the tumour – later found to be a type of astrocytoma called a pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma – was fracturing her skull. It was a hugely scary time for her family.
“We were immediately whisked to Sheffield Children’s Hospital, where we would spend the next few weeks with Bean undergoing extra tests, scans, treatment, and emergency surgery within 4 days.
Freya’s dad Bradley
You’re all over the place, you sort of go into auto-pilot. She’s in there for 8 hours and you’re just sat around waiting, wondering if it’s good news or bad news.
“Forever in debt to her surgeon.”
“Freya had gross total resection surgery and is under surveillance with now 6 monthly MRI’s and eye tests,” Bradley said. “She is doing okay – but life will never be the same. Freya has absent seizures as a result of brain surgery so she is medicated for this which is tricky trying to find a balancing dose. She fatigues really easy so we have to plan our days/weeks to ensure she gets rest.
“She still struggles with headaches, she’s sensitive to light and noise. She has mood and behaviour changes and receives psychological support. She is under a few different services for different reasons but challenges aside, we are just so thankful she is still here with us. We will forever be in debt to Freya’s fantastic surgeon.
“Luckily, we’ve had the best surgeons, medical team and support around us and still do.”
7 marathons in 7 days: A “ridiculous” running challenge
The support the family received after Freya’s diagnosis is what inspired Bradley’s impressive challenge. He’s taking on seven marathons through various Sheffield parks over 7 days, to raise funds for three charities who helped: The Brain Tumour Charity, Sheffield Children’s Hospital, and Young Lives vs Cancer. He said: “This will be a quite simply ridiculous challenge. I’m not really a runner, and having been injured for a number of weeks and only really returning to running for the last 7 weeks, it’s hard to know just how hard it will be. But it’s important to me to give back to the charities that have supported us in the past year.
This year, the 15th of June 2026 is a Monday – a year to the date we found out – and Father’s Day is on the Sunday 21st June 2026 (Father’s Day also being the day we found out) so this just made sense to me to run this challenge over this week, a week that will be ingrained in our minds and hearts for the rest of our lives.”
Bradley
Raising symptoms awareness
Freya had been unwell for 9 months leading up to her diagnosis, and her parents had been taking her to different health professionals to try and get to the bottom of it. Bradley said: “Freya could walk at 9months old and from then all she wanted to do was run, but at 2 and half years old, all that changed. She would complain of tiredness but wouldn’t sleep, leg pain, aching and would pick up every illness going. Closer to diagnosis she started with headaches and changes in eye movement but this was intermittent. We actually said if this persists we will have to take her for an eye test to be checked over but the way we found out was by total accident.
If me doing this silly challenge helps to raise awareness for brain tumours and the signs and symptoms to look out for, then that’s great. We were almost too late in finding out, so hopefully people can notice, and be taken seriously in the early stages before it’s too late.”
Bradley
Find out more: Bradley’s Fundraising Page: Bradley Ashman is fundraising for The Brain Tumour Charity
Follow Bradley’s challenge on socials: @Bradleyashman
Take on a fundraising challenge
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