Doctors Dismiss Baby's Swollen Head as Normal, Turns Out to be Brain Tumor

A now-four-month-old baby girl was just a few hours from death due to an undiagnosed brain tumor that was initially just disregarded by the doctors who examined her swollen head, as per a report by the Daily Mail.

The baby girl, Molly Wai Wardle-Hampton, was born on November 7 last year in North Wales. She was born healthy. However, she started experiencing seizures at just three weeks old. 

Her mother, Corinne Wardle, took Molly to a series of medical consultations over the succeeding weeks after the seizures. But she claimed that her worries, such as her child's swollen head, were brushed off as "normal baby stuff."

Brain tumor found

Corinne is a nurse by profession, and the general practitioners she took Molly to dismissed her concerns on multiple occasions. According to Corinne, had they been in other circumstances, her daughter would have died or ended up with severe brain damage. Molly struggled to move her eyes, and her head was swollen after she visited the doctor. However, she was told there was nothing to worry about, and they were sent home.

In February this year, Molly's condition took a turn for the worse, and Corinne rushed her to the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she works. She was then transferred immediately to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. A brain scan showed that Molly had a large brain tumor spreading throughout her brain. In addition, the scan showed that there was fluid in her head that was putting pressure on her brain and eyes. If they did not operate as soon as possible, the four-month-old baby girl could have died within 24 hours.

The mother of three was in a state of shock after the brain scan results were revealed to her. She described feeling numb and unable to process the news. She said she never expected that something like that would happen to her.

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Ependymoma

Corinne's youngest child then had to undergo a three-hour operation to remove the tumor. Molly's condition was severe because cancer had spread to three-quarters of her brain. Corinne had noticed early on that her daughter had health issues, but many of these went unnoticed by several doctors. At six weeks, Molly's head was quite large, and although she could look to the right, she could not do it on the left side. The baby was also vomiting and was quite fussy.

The intracranial pressure pushed her eyes in opposite directions and even made her head grow more prominent and off the charts.

Molly had been diagnosed with ependymoma, a rare cancer that affects the brain and the spine. Although Molly and Corinne are now home, the former has to undergo chemotherapy twice a week to address the remaining brain tumor. Corinne fears the agony that her child may experience but would not express, such as a tummy ache or itchy skin.

A fundraising page has already raised more than £1,600, and their family is grateful that there are still beautiful people despite the odds and the negativity.

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