Callum was only 5 months old when he was diagnosed with a low grade optic pathway glioma at Great Ormond Street Hospital. This slowly growing tumour in the deep midbrain was inoperable. It was treated twice when it grew; first with 15 months of chemotherapy at age 8 months, and then with 6 weeks of radiotherapy, when he was 4 years old. Although his tumour is still there, it stopped growing after that and he made an amazing recovery.
But later, during prep and secondary school, the long-term effects of his tumour and treatment injury – which had caused hemiplegia and nystagmus shortly after birth – along with later growth hormone deficiency, learning difficulties, and both impaired hearing and sight – subjected him to bullying. While some of the bullying was driven by ignorance of pupils and staff (teachers and teaching assistants like), this was aggravated by their total lack of compassion or empathy and apparent arrogance and condescension.
Despite his mother’s constant endeavours to explain, the bullying failed to improve and negatively impacted Callum’s educational experience. It was only when he moved to Yeovil College with dedicated support for his identified specific needs that he began to blossom. This was also when his significant strengths in verbal intelligence, artistic design and musical gifts – expressed through his love of Metal music and underpinned by his chromaesthesia (a synaesthesia subtype in which musical notes are experienced as colours) – were fully recognised. Callum’s extraordinary general knowledge and his quizmaster skills have entertained fundraising gatherings in his home town and also at our weekly online Success Friendship group of which he is an integral, founder member.
Success offers opportunities for support and help to those struggling in education and employment, and with isolation and bullying .
