Eight-year-old Robin Correia, from Surrey, has been diagnosed with DIPG, a rare and fast-acting brain tumour, and told he may have only nine to 12 months to live. His family is now focused on making his remaining time as happy and normal as possible.
Diagnosis after months of symptoms
Robin's mother, Jessie Correia, 31, first noticed something was wrong when Robin's right eye began turning inwards involuntarily and his foot was turning in and scraping along the floor as he walked. His double vision and walking difficulties were initially dismissed as linked to his pre-existing special educational needs, but after a former GP family member advised getting him seen immediately, appointments at Southampton General revealed the cancerous tumour. MRI scans showed it was fast-paced and incurable.
Robin, who was diagnosed with a developmental language disorder when he was very young, only began speaking confidently around three years ago. Jessie told the Mirror: "It's the worst news any parent can hear. When we were told that he'll probably lose the ability to speak, that really killed me because he's worked so hard to be able to speak, and we've only had him speaking for about three years."
Family plans bucket list experiences
Robin, described by his mum as the "absolute heart" of his family, is an older brother to five-year-old Sienna and 17-month-old Eve. Jessie has been focused on making Robin comfortable ahead of his upcoming radiography, but admits there are moments that bring home the reality. She said: "I have definitely hit a wall where I try to disassociate it with being Robin because if I start thinking about that, I know I'll just break and I can't do that. But sometimes I can't. We were on our way to Paultons Park last week and they were going, 'Mummy, when Robin's 15 how old will I be?' I was trying to answer, but my husband had to step in - because it's obviously going to get to an age where Sienna will always be older than Robin."
Together with aunt Jenny, Jessie has begun a bucket list of experiences for Robin. Plans include a Star Wars-themed party for his ninth birthday at the end of November, with his best friends, actors in costume, and themed food. Robin's favourite character is Anakin Skywalker, and he is also a fan of Captain Rex. He loves building spaceships out of Lego and plays with his green Toy Story army soldiers, keeping them in a special tin he takes "everywhere".
Fundraiser exceeds £20,000
This week, Robin will visit an RAF site to ride in a helicopter and see an air traffic control room. Also planned are a day as a zookeeper at Colchester Zoo, a trip to a wildlife park in Belgium where he will stay in a lodge next to a brown bear and wolf enclosure, and a night in an underwater room with sharks swimming in a tank around the family. The family is also planning a private, before-hours experience at the Lego Store in Leicester Square and hoping to take Robin to Disneyland Paris to meet Star Wars stormtroopers.
Jenny Crone, Robin's aunt, set up a GoFundMe page with her sister Jules days after the diagnosis, raising over £20,000 to pay towards memorable experiences for Robin and his sisters. She said: "We can't believe how much it's raised and how much it means we're going to be able to do for them... it restores your faith in humanity that actually there's really kindhearted, lovely people out there that just want to help a little boy."
