Davina McCall brings ‘uplifting’ visit to brain tumor manor Kirsty Waugh, 11, after the young person was diagnosed on the same day.

Presenter Davina McCall brought a “uplifting” visit to the house of an 11-year-old girl with a brain tumor-in which they share their experiences with the diagnosis.

Kirsty Waugh, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was diagnosed on November 15, 2024.

On the same day Davina posted a video to tell her followers that she had just undergone surgery Remove its own comparable tumor.

Kirsty’s parents, Mat and Kate, decided to see if they could get in touch with the presenter – who could come into contact locally – to get a message for their daughter.

After he had been in contact through a friend of a friend, the celebrity not only sent Kirsty a video message, but also organized to come to her house on Friday 8 May.

Mat described Davina as funny and friendly and said she talked to the whole family for more than an hour, including Kirsty’s older sisters Isla and Doris.

The 53-year-old said: ‘Davina had her brain tumor removed on the same day that Kirsty was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed. She is locally for us, so I wondered if we could get a message from her.

‘She is as beautiful and warm and generous as you would hope. They spoke a lot about their respective cancer treatment.

‘It was really a uplifting experience. We all felt better because we had spoken to her. ‘

He added: ‘She is a very funny woman, so there was a huge amount of laughing. And a lot of cuddling.

‘We grew up with seeing Davina on TV from Big Brother to the masked singer. It was as if you spoke with a friend you know, but that you just never met. ‘

For the first time, Kirsty noticed a few symptoms in September last year when she started problems with her eyesight that the opticians could not repair with the use of lenses.

Her parents then took her to the doctor where she was registered for a number of tests, but in anticipation of her appointment she started to get problems with fatigue and memory loss.

On November 15, things took a turn for the worst and Kirsty began to vomit in the morning- that encouraged her father to take her to the hospital.

Kirsty had an MRI and many tests, and later that day her father received the devastating news that she had a tumor in her brain.

Looking back at the moment Mat said, who is a children’s author, “It was just me and her that day when her mother was gone and I just thought something was not feeling right.

‘They took me to a side room to tell me that she had a brain tumor. It was a very surreal time because she seemed absolutely good on the outside.

“It was a bomb day. It is as if something has flattened everything you know and believe.

“I was absolutely destroyed. It was really difficult to take.

“It was so strange because we would talk about this with a box with tissues and then I would have to sweep my face and go back to Kirsty who was absolutely fine on the outside.”

Kirsty then had an operation of seven hours the next Wednesday where they did an endoscopic exploration and took a little off the tumor, but they could not get everything access.

The schoolgirl, who starts the Grammar school in September, started chemotherapy the next week on a 70 -week treatment cycle.

Now the tumor started to shrink and in February her eyesight started to recover, together with her memory, of which Mat says she could read books and watch films again.

Kirsty has tolerated the treatment well, but has pains, dizziness and her hair thinner a bit.

However, she has remained positive all the time, even her tumor Terry named after her favorite character in the Sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Matt added: ‘We are really only at the start of a very long journey. But for the time being we have a lot of the girl back that we had in August 2024.

‘As Davina said, benign does not mean good, because the tumor can cause all kinds of problems by just being there.

‘When she got better, we hardly wanted to talk about it because it could go again. Nothing is permanent.

“But to see her pick up another book, was absolutely brilliant. You take all of that completely for granted until it is gone. “

To give back to those who gave her great care, Kirsty hooks 70 Bunting-Driehoeken- every week of her treatment- to raise money for children with cancer UK.

So far, the campaign has collected more than £ 21,000 for a good cause and the family has delivered brochures about the work to thousands of houses in Kent.

Mat said: ‘She couldn’t see the end of the crochet hook, so she just did it on the basis of contact. After her operation it was the first thing she wanted to pick up again.

“We are amazingly proud of her and how all three have responded to this life -changing news.”