Dzemil

Dzemil (Jamil) is 2 and a half years old and was diagnosed with ATRT in December 2023. 

Unfortunately, this did not come as a huge shock as sadly his family was aware from a very young age that Dzemil has the SMARCB1 gene, which is connected to this type of cancer.

Dzemil suffered two cardiac arrests and meningitis when he was a baby, which nearly took his life. Consultants at our local children’s hospital believed Dzemil had a genetic condition and that we should proceed with genetic testing. The results showed that Dzemil has 22q11.2 Distal Deletion Syndrome along with the SMARCB1 gene, which meant that there was a risk of ATRT. Therefore, Dzemil was monitored every 3-6 months via MRI and ultrasound scans. During a planned MRI at the end of November 2023, a tumour was found. This grew rapidly within a two week period, but thankfully, after a successful nine hour operation at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, England, the surgeons managed to remove all of the tumour.

Dzemil has recently finished 30 sessions of Proton Beam Therapy at The Christie in Manchester, England. He has 5 rounds of chemotherapy left, making 12 rounds in total.

His family shares that this treatment is a lot, but he is a fighter and continues to smile each day, and we could not be any prouder of him.