A mum claims doctors called her “paranoid” after she pushed for further testing on her four-year-old daughter, who was complaining of frequent headaches.
Clare Maw, 42, said that it took a year of going “backwards and forwards” visiting GPs until anyone took her seriously.
Meanwhile, she believes daughter Evie’s health continued to deteriorate, and the once-healthy child was eventually handed a terrifying diagnosis – a brain tumour the “size of an orange”.
The now-six-year-old’s plight started back in 2022, when she began suffering headaches, sickness and loss of balance.
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Clare claims she and husband Karl, 32, visited their local GP surgery and hospital an estimated seven times over the months that followed.
“The doctors completely dismissed our concerns, even calling us paranoid parents and calling Evie a liar,” Clare, a teaching assistant from Scunthorpe, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
“[They] frequently refused to even see her.”
By November, Evie’s condition had worsened dramatically.
Clare said: “We visited the GP again as Evie had again deteriorated and had even fallen down the stairs due to losing her balance.
“Again, we were dismissed and sent home.
“Finally on 12 November we rushed her to our local hospital and Evie was finally given a brain scan, as doctors spotted the pressure build-up behind her eyes.”
While at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, doctors found a large tumour on Evie’s brain.
Claire said: “We felt like our whole world was falling apart [and] we were absolutely devastated beyond words, as we knew for a long time Evie had been very poorly, but never ever did we think it would be something so devastating.”
Brave Evie underwent five surgeries in the space of three weeks over November and December, spending five weeks in hospital.
Her parents are currently waiting for the full results from a biopsy before they are able to plan for further treatments.
Clare said: “We have been left absolutely devastated by this diagnosis and are still yet to find out what Evie’s future holds.
“She now has a shunt fitted for life and epilepsy as a result of the tumour being missed for so long and being able to grow so big.
“Evie is now in a wheelchair as she is unable to walk – we are unsure if this is for life.
“This has completely changed our lives forever.
“Whether that be the physical side of never being able to leave Evie alone [and] having to do everything for her, from taking her to the toilet to feeding her, or the mental strain of always worrying due to Evie having a shunt fitted to help drain the fluid from her brain.
“This means even the symptoms of a cold are the same symptoms of Evie’s shunt being blocked, so it means we have to take her back to Sheffield to be looked after.
“Our lives will never be the same again.”
The parents have also been left unhappy by the alleged dismissive responses they received during visits to the doctors before her diagnosis.
Clare claimed: “[In my opinion], there were numerous opportunities for the [doctors] to have diagnosed this sooner.
“All they ever diagnosed her with was possible migraines.”
The family are currently hoping for good news to come.
In the meantime, friends and family have also set up a fundraising page on GoFundMe to support them through this time.
Claire added: “We are hoping for enough funds to adapt the house to make life easier for Evie’s needs in her wheelchair and hopefully to make some new memories with days out to hopefully put some of the terrible hospital trauma behind us.”
Jam Press contacted Claire’s GP but they declined to comment, stating patient confidentiality.
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