Two-year-old boy diagnosed with leukaemia after four doctors missed crucial warning signs
Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing.
A two-year-old boy was diagnosed with leukaemia after four doctors missed crucial warning signs.
Chester Byrne's parents first took him to the GP after he'd hit his head while playing with his four-year-old brother.
His mum Emma, from Newry, Northern Ireland, said she was told that her son had endured a concussion from his fall.
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The toddler suffered symptoms which included a rash on his shins, a pale complexion, a lack of appetite and being unable to sleep.
"Him being very lethargic was one of the major signs for me, he wouldn't walk, he wouldn't even go down the stairs. He would whimper as if he was in quite a lot of pain," Emma told Belfast Live.
"Another major sign was his skin colour. He is quite naturally pale, but he was actually grey, it was quite disturbing. You look back thinking it was right in my face, how did I not see the accumulation of so much."
She said Chester's condition 'went downhill' and after their first A&E visit, doctors put his symptoms down to exhaustion.
Almost a week later, the boy became more unsettled and started 'screaming and shouting' while refusing to walk. When Chester's parents called the doctors and pushed for him to get a blood test, they said they were told to watch his temperature and ring back if things progressed.
Emma realised something was severely wrong after picking his brother up from nursery.
Her four-year-old was holding Chester in the pram when he noticed there was blood all over his hand.
"I ran home with both kids and went to A&E. This was our second visit, and fourth time raising concerns all within a week. I went straight down to the paediatrician waiting area, and one of the nurses that was on shift the Saturday we came in recognised me and came straight over," the mum said.
"I said 'this is his name, his date of birth, if you have to stand and do the bloods in front of me, I am not moving, I am not having a conversation with anyone, I'm not sitting down, I need bloods done.' In my heart of hearts I actually knew because I had plugged the symptoms into Google, and the symptoms were ticking all the boxes."
A rapid blood test and an hour wait on 2 April showed that Chester had B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), a 'rapidly progressing' blood cancer.
One month on, Chester is staying at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast and has, so far, done five rounds of chemotherapy.
Emma warned that these days, 'you have to push to get answers' from GPs.
She said: "Many of the families here [in hospital] share the same experience of our concerns being dismissed or our questions not being answered. Families here have been told their kids just have growing pains and they've ended up being diagnosed with cancer.
"It's made me really sad that I've lost faith in an area where you should be able to voice your concerns and be taken seriously. We want to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms, if you feel like there's something wrong, if you have to fight to get your point across, which you shouldn't have to principally, but you know your child better than anybody else."
The family have set up the Chester's Chance campaign to raise awareness of the sort of symptoms parents need to look out for.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Anish Vij