ABU DHABI It is easy to mistake Ciara Allan for a shy and nervous teenager who gets all animated only when you talk about her favourite music band, One Direction.
But this 13-year-old from Scotland has survived three brain surgeries, months of chemotherapy sessions and epileptic seizures to fight a deadly brain tumour. And this braveheart still has enough pluck and resolve left in her to help other children like her.
“It is not about yourself all the time. No matter how bad your life is, you still have to do your best to help others,” Ciara told XPRESS.
Following her miraculous comeback, this eight grader at Raha International School, Abu Dhabi, has already raised Dh1,400 for the UAE Make A Wish Foundation that fulfills the wishes of terminally ill children. She, with the help of her mother Lloret Allan, had organized a ‘Bake and Sell’ at the school to raise funds.
Getting her wish
She said she wants to give back to the Foundation that helped her fulfil her wish to see Disney World in Florida while she was undergoing treatment in a hospital in Oklahoma in 2012.
Ciara was diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was three years old after a stroke that paralysed her left side. “She could not move or talk for 16 weeks. She has always been unwell since then. Her epileptic seizures got worse every year,” said Lloret.
Ciara had her first brain surgery in 2006 in the UK when she was five years old. In 2009, her family including her two younger siblings – Ila, 11 and Lorne, 8, moved to Dubai when her father got a job with a private company. Ciara joined Uptown Mirdiff School.
“But we would visit the UK every three months for Ciara’s MRIs. In 2011, she had her second brain surgery, and that was when doctors found the tumour had become cancerous,” said Lloret.
“We had to pack our bags and go back to Scotland for treatment. Only my husband stayed back in Dubai,” she added.
Doctors in the UK tried three different types of chemo on Ciara, but her body did not respond. Finally, in 2012 she was sent to the Procure Proton Therapy Centre in Oklahoma for an advanced treatment called Proton Beam Radio Therapy.
“We were fortunate that after the treatment, the tumour has not grown and she has never had another epileptic attack till this day,” said the mother who works as a learning supporter in the same school.
The family came back to the UAE and Ciara joined the IB curriculum Raha School in April 2014. “She is struggling to cope with her studies because she has lost so many school days,” said Lloret, but she added that all that matters is her daughter’s health and happiness.
The surgeries and chemo sessions have also impacted the girl’s memory and concentration and Ciara needs a shadow teacher to help her at school. But she is not one to give up that easily. “I don’t know what is in store for me. But my mother tells me whatever it is, I must deal with it. And I know that,” said Ciara.
She says when she grows up she wants to launch a charity in her name, and help terminally ill children. For now, Ciara will focus on her studies, and will raise funds for Make a Wish Foundation.
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