Cancer Care: Strong strides from Meer

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Meer’s journey of care following a cancerous brain tumor and Posterior fossa syndrome

Meer’s mother Rachel shares her son’s cancer treatment and specialized care program at Sidra Medicine.

In April 2025, Meer was just weeks away from turning seven years old, when was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

Meer’s mother, Rachel, said: “We found ourselves coming to the emergency department at Sidra Medicine a few times. After a couple of visits, the team were concerned and urgently scheduled an MRI to get to the bottom of his condition.”

The MRI scans confirmed that Meer had a tumor in his brain. The situation was so critical that Meer was admitted on the very same night.

Two days later, a team of neurosurgeons, led by Dr. Khalid Al Kharazi, Senior Neurosurgeon from the Department of Neurosurgery, spent several hours performing the complex surgery to remove the tumor.

Dr. Khalid Al Kharazi said: “Meer required more than one neurosurgical intervention to resect the malignant tumor in his brain and to manage his hydrocephalus.  The tumor was in a sensitive area of his brain and attached firmly to many vital structures such as brainstem, cerebellum and cranial nerves. We are glad that the procedure went well. I also want to acknowledge how cooperative and understanding Meer’s parents were with the medical team. This is an integral part of a young child’s care journey, to ensure a smooth recovery during a challenging time.”

Following his complex surgery, Meer developed Posterior fossa syndrome – a neurological complication that impacted his ability to talk, walk, move and swallow.

Rachel continued: “We knew this was going to be a long road to care and recovery. We were grateful to the neurosurgery team for removing the tumor and the next chapter of his complex care was preparing him for chemotherapy.”

“Our brave little boy ended up celebrating his 7^th birthday in May in the hematology and oncology ward with the lovely nurses on 5A.  Meer required extensive care and post-operative physical and occupational therapy including speech-language pathology (SLP) to address his neurological challenges.”

Meer stayed at Sidra Medicine for five months as he underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy and regular rehabilitation sessions.

Since undergoing regular occupational and physical therapy and SLP sessions, Meer has regained the ability to move and is also learning how to walk on his own and speak again. Thanks to his progress, after five months, he was able to move back home to be with his family.

His Neuro-Oncologist, Dr. Ata Ur Rehman Maaz, said: “Despite the complexity of Meer’s condition, we were very pleased that our neurosurgeons immediately removed the tumor. When it came to giving him further treatment with radiation and chemotherapy, he tolerated these very well.  At the end of treatment, his MRI showed that Meer no longer has a tumor. He is also making incredible strides in his speech and rehabilitation therapy sessions.”

On 17 September 2026, Meer officially rang the bell in our Hematology and Oncology ward, to celebrate finishing his chemotherapy treatment at Sidra Medicine.

Rachel concluded: “We are so proud of Meer, for everything that he’s been able to accomplish.  And we are so grateful to the amazing physical, occupational, speech and language therapy teams as well as to Dr. Maaz and the oncology department for their continued care of Meer. Thank you!” Please visit neurosurgery. hematology and oncology services for more details about our pediatric care services.