A mum who lost her young daughter to an aggressive cancer has shared how a group of bereaved parents helped give her strength.

Five-year-old Isla Winn was diagnosed with a brain tumour in February 2022 after she seemed to develop a slightly lazy eye and started to lose movement down one side of her body.

Her mum Steph Manning noticed something was wrong when the pair were walking to school one morning and Isla was not moving her arm.

She immediately took her to the A&E department at Darent Valley Hospital, in Dartford, where medics carried out various tests and a CT scan.

No tumours were found, however, Isla was transferred to the Evelina London Children's Hospital for an MRI.

Steph, of Springhead Park, Northfleet, said: “We were then given the devastating news that Isla had a brain tumour that had not been picked up on the CT scan.

“As you can imagine our world completely fell apart, no parent should have to hear that.

“It was awful, our lives just crashed. Within a minute our whole lives had changed.

“We were told there was nothing they could do and to go and make memories.”

Isla was diagnosed with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), now called a diffuse midline glioma, and was given just 12 months to live.

A DIPG is a grade-4 brain tumour that is fast-growing and is most common in children.

Symptoms include problems with walking and balance, weakness in arms and legs, speech difficulties, problems with swallowing and chewing and difficulty in controlling eye movements.

It grows in the area between the two halves of the brain and in Isla’s case, it was in her brain stem which Steph said meant it could not be operated on.

She said the only treatment option was radiotherapy which would prolong her life and pain and anti-sickness medication.

The Springhead Park Primary School pupil underwent 13 sessions of radiotherapy at the specialised cancer treatment centre The Royal Marsden which did shrink her tumour temporarily.

However, Isla died at home nine months after her diagnosis.

Steph said: “Throughout her treatment, you would have never known there was anything wrong.

“She was clever and beautiful. She loved Formula 1 and animals.

“She was my best friend.”

Following Isla’s passing, Steph sought support online and joined a group known as The Angel Mums who had all lost children to brain tumours.

The 32-year-old said: “When my daughter was poorly I looked for people who were going through the same thing online.

“When your child is diagnosed you look everywhere to find something.

“All the mums know the pain of losing a child. It is a group you do not want to be a part of but we are.

“You can talk to friends and family but they do not get it, we all get what it is like to be told the news.

“Everyone grieves differently but I find it comforting to be with other people who know how I feel.”

The Angel Mums are a group of more than 25 bereaved parents who came together last year to raise funds for the brain cancer charity the Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence for Children.

Each of the women has had a child die from a brain tumour and decided that they needed to use their loss to help change the outcomes for other youngsters in the future.

The group has raised more than £100,000 for the foundation through activities like jumping out of a plane, hiking Snowdon, wing walks and walking across hot coals.

They have since been shortlisted as one of 21 finalists for the JustGiving Team Fundraiser of the Year 2024, from a pool of 18,000 nominations. You can vote for them here and donate to their page here.

The winners will be announced on September 18.

Steph said: “Brain tumours are one of the biggest cancer killers of children but there is not enough research.

“Since Isla passed, we have done a lot of fundraising. People have got to do something otherwise nothing will change.

“It is amazing to be nominated, it is an amazing achievement.”

Head of fundraising and development at the Tessa Jowell Foundation, Racheal Bird, added: “The Angel Mums are a truly inspiring group of women who despite going through the worst heartache of losing a child are channelling their pain into hope for future families affected by brain tumours.

“Sadly this group keeps growing, with eight members last year to 25 this year, highlighting the need for the work we are funding through the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission in brain cancer research treatment and care.

“Brain cancer is the biggest cancer killer of children and under 40s in the UK and these amazing women are doing all they can to fund work to change that, we could not be more honoured and more grateful.”

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, however, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to it since 2002.