Suche
Mein Konto
A three-month-old girl was left hours from death after botched doctors missed her brain tumor and dismissed her seizures and swollen head as "normal".
Molly Mai Wardle-Hampton was born healthy and weighing 7lbs on November 7th in Rhyl, North Wales. But she began suffering from seizures when she was three weeks old.
Her worried mother, Corinne Wardle, 37, took her daughter to a series of doctor's appointments in the following weeks but claims she was told Molly Mai's problems were "normal baby things".
Ms Wardle took Molly Mai to the emergency room last month because of her worsening symptoms and was immediately referred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where doctors discovered a tumor in her brain.
Doctors said a buildup of fluid was putting pressure on Molly Mai's brain and eyes and she would die within 24 hours if they did not operate immediately, Ms Wardle claimed.
Molly Mai underwent a grueling three-hour operation to remove the tumor that had spread to three-quarters of her brain.
Doctors have since confirmed that her tumor is an ependymoma - a rare cancer that affects the brain and spine. Fewer than 50 children in the UK and around 200 in the US develop the disease each year.
Molly Mai has since returned home but will receive chemotherapy twice a week for the next year to kill the remaining tumor and stop it from spreading.
Molly Mai Wardle-Hampton (pictured) was born on November 7th, healthy and weighing 7lbs, but suffered from seizures at just three weeks old
Her worried mother, Corinne Wardle, 37, (pictured) took her daughter to two doctor's appointments in the following weeks, but Molly Mai's symptoms were dismissed by doctors as "normal baby stuff".
Ms Wardle said Molly Mai had three seizures around the time she was three weeks old, each lasting about a minute.
She took Molly Mai to a doctor's appointment and was referred to a pediatrician in Wrexham.
Before this appointment took place, Molly Mai was seen by a GP for a regular six-week check-up. Although Molly Mai's head measurements were larger than normal, Ms Wardle said the GP was not concerned.
But in the weeks that followed, Ms Wardle noticed that Molly Mai could only look to the right, had a large head, was vomiting and was unsettled.
At the subsequent pediatrician appointment, Ms. Wardle said the doctor dismissed Molly Mai's seizures and swollen head as "normal baby stuff."
Just before Christmas, Molly Mai was taken to the Countess of Chester A&E Hospital, where Ms Wardle works, with a viral infection.
Ms Wardle said: "I explained all about Molly Mai's seizures and her swollen head but doctors tend to deal with what's in front of them and treat the viral infection and nothing more."
Over the next few weeks, Molly Mai's symptoms continued to worsen.
Her eyes went in opposite directions and her head size “was now off the chart,” her mother said.
On February 1, Ms Wardle took Molly Mai to the emergency department at the Countess of Chester Hospital for the second time.
Medics there performed a CT scan and discovered a large tumor pressing on her eye nerves.
Molly Mai was then taken in an ambulance to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for further scans.
The following day, doctors performed a three-hour operation to remove the tumor.
Ms Wardle said: “The surgeon at Alder Hey was very clear that without surgery she wouldn't have survived 24 hours, that's how close it was.
“I think I just went numb at that moment, I don't think I've fully processed it yet, we're still in shock.
“You just never expect it to happen to you.”
Symptoms of ependymoma, which has a five-year survival rate of about 60 percent, include vomiting, seizures and increased head circumference.
Molly Mai has since returned home but is undergoing chemotherapy twice a week to kill the remaining tumor and stop it from spreading.
Ms Wardle said: “We were very lucky she was a baby because the skull didn’t fuse, so the skull was able to expand with the fluid.
“If she had been an adult she would have suffered severe brain damage or it probably would have killed her.
"The tumor covered three different parts of the brain. It covered a significant portion of the right hemisphere.
“My partner now keeps telling me, ‘If you hadn’t pushed further, she would be dead now,’ which is so scary.”
Ms Wardle took Molly Mai to the emergency room last month because of her swollen head and was immediately referred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where doctors discovered a tumor in the three-month-old's brain
Doctors told Ms Wardle that fluid was putting pressure on Molly Mai's brain and eyes and she would die within 24 hours if they did not operate immediately
The mother-of-three said: "It was very frustrating because I knew something was wrong but the doctors kept telling me it was normal baby things. It was missed by a lot of them."
“She is only 14 weeks old now and we have a whole year of chemotherapy ahead of us.
“She's obviously going to get very sick and because she's a baby and I can't explain why this is happening.
“She will probably end up with ulcers, she will be in a lot of pain and become lethargic.
"She can't tell me that her stomach hurts or that her skin itches and feels terrible. She will be in absolute agony."
A Fundraising The page set up to support the family has raised more than £1,600.