A HEREFORDSHIRE woman has told of her baby daughter's battle with a rare brain condition.
Donna Burton, from Leominster, was pregnant with her second child Sydney, when a routine growth scan led to a shock discovery.
The scan revealed an abnormal growth on the foetus and Ms Burton had to go for an MRI to find out the issue.
The MRI scan revealed that the unborn Sydney had a porencephalic cyst.
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It is a very rare disorder that affects your central nervous system, which often happens before or soon after a baby is born.
Children with this condition develop fluid-filled cavities, or cysts, on their brain.
These brain cysts can delay and impair the child's growth and development.
Donna Burton with her three-month old daughter Sydney.
Sydney, aged 15 weeks, was born with a small growth on her brain, but in her short life so far she has suffered multiple seizures and the cyst has doubled in size.
She is now due to have another MRI scan at Birmingham Children's Hospital this week to see if its grown any further, followed by brain surgery.
Ms Burton said that this was the only option due to the pressure that the growth was putting on her brain.
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She said its been a very difficult time for the family. The couple have a six-year-old who has special needs and the constant worry over Sydney is leading to many sleepless nights for her and partner Paul.
These challenges will not stop after surgery and the couple cannot be sure of the long term prognosis for their daughter.
They have set up a GoFundMe page to help the family try and cover the costs of practical day to day things to help care for their daughter during and after her operation.
Ms Burton said: "We don't know what lies in the future but we do know its going to be a long recovery road ahead for Sydney and for the whole family.
"Any small donations would go a long way to helping our beautiful little girl."
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