The world's top surgeons thought Leah's complicated tumour could not be removed - now she hopes to become a Lioness one day
Ten-year-old Leah Bennett whose love of football helped her recover from an ‘impossible’ tumour has set her heart on playing for her country, spurred on by the success of the England team in the Women’s World Cup. In 2019, when she was only six years old, Leah survived and recovered from a tumour on her spine that many of the world’s top surgeons felt was too risky to remove because it was large and wrapped around major blood vessels including her aorta and the arteries feeding Leah’s legs.
But Leah has said it was her love of football that helped her get through the ordeal. She said: “I love playing football because I love being part of a team and, although I’m limited in terms of what I can play after the effects of my treatment, football is one of the things I can get involved in. “I love watching the Lionesses play, and I’d love to show other children with serious illnesses that you can achieve anything you put your mind to, that you can follow your dreams, and you should never give up no matter what.”
“There is still a long-term impact; she gets out of puff and her heart is weaker, so I try to manage her expectations. But I’d never want to crush her dream and I tell her to keep playing so she gets better and better, and we’ll see. Who knows? He said: “Leah watched the Lionesses when they won the European Championships last July and absolutely loved it, and her support of them has grown ever since. We go and watch Everton and Everton Women’s teams, for whom Leah has been a mascot, and she said ‘dad, do you think I could ever play for them?’.“Every time Leah goes onto the pitch it makes me burst with pride. If she went on wearing an England shirt, I’d be a wreck. You’d have to mop me up.
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