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Scunthorpe mum ‘begged doctors to help’ daughter, 6, before she was diagnosed with brain tumour

A Scunthorpe mum whose “world has been ripped apart” after her six-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumour claims she begged a GP surgery for help over 18 months but was ‘sent away with paracetamol’ as her daughter’s condition got progressively worse.

Evie Maw, 6, began complaining of headaches a year-and-a-half ago. Mum Claire claims that when she took her to her GP surgery – Ancora Medical Practice on Ashby Road – she was dismissed and advised to take her to the optician’s for an eye test.

She says over the next few months, Evie’s condition progressed to the point where she was severely fatigued, vomiting several times a week, with headaches that were more intense and would last for longer periods.

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Claire claims she saw “doctor after doctor” and was branded a “paranoid mother”. She said it was also suggested that Evie could be lying about the severity of her condition. The practice said it was unable to comment due to confidentiality.

She told Scunthorpe Live: “I carried on going to the GP, I saw doctor after doctor that basically called my child a liar and told me I was a paranoid mother. They said, ‘No child gets a headache every single day, that’s impossible, are you sure she’s not lying?’.

“Eventually I got a referral to the hospital in March and the GP told me in the meantime to keep a diary and monitor how many headaches she was getting and how often she was sick. I told them it wasn’t enough and begged them to do something, and we were just dismissed.”

Before long, Evie was vomiting and complaining of headaches on a daily basis, and was so tired that she would fall asleep as soon as she got in the car after school, Claire said.



Evie began complaining of headaches around 18 months ago
Evie began complaining of headaches around 18 months ago

“She just wasn’t herself. It was like life was passing her by and she didn’t want to join in, she was just fading. I kept saying, she’s not right and I don’t know what to do for her.”

Claire took Evie to the GP once again on Wednesday, November 8, after she had begun to lose her balance and fall over.

She said: “I said to the GP, ‘I’ve waited too long, I’ve waited since March to see the hospital and nothing is changing’, but they sent me home with paracetamol and told me to just keep a diary.”

Three days later, Evie woke up and could not move her head or look from left to right.

“I said that something is really wrong with her to my partner, because she was so not herself,” Claire said.

“She was upset, crying and asking me to help her and I didn’t know how to help her. We were beside ourselves with worry and took her to A&E in Scunthorpe and begged for help. I said, ‘We can’t carry on as we are’.

“A doctor came and looked in her eyes and his face changed. He said they would do a brain scan, and within ten minutes they were doing a scan. Doctors told us that day that our daughter had a huge mass on her brain, and that the ambulance was outside waiting to blue-light her to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.”



Scunthorpe General Hospital
Scunthorpe General Hospital

On Sunday, November 12, Evie underwent 10 hours of brain surgery to remove the mass, and has undergone two more operations since. Claire said the family are now “in limbo” as they await a full prognosis and the results of a biopsy to come back.

She said: “We’re in that grey area now of waiting, we don’t know if it’s cancer, we’re just in limbo. Some days we’re up and you get a smile, and other days she barely opens her eyes. We’re up and down, it’s a massive rollercoaster. Our world has been ripped apart. We’ve got other children at home and it’s absolutely devastating.

“I’ve had to absolutely battle to get her help, I kept telling doctor after doctor she wasn’t right. I know my baby inside out, I knew there was something wrong with her and nobody would listen to me. That time frame allowed that mass to get that big that she needed surgery the day after doctors found it, because she was life threateningly poorly.”

Evie’s devoted parents, Claire and Karl, have not left Evie’s side during the fortnight she has been in hospital.

Claire continued: “All our energy is going into Evie. We’ve been at her bedside 24/7. We’re just sitting and waiting for the biopsy results to come back and waiting to find out whether she has to go back into surgery to have a shunt fitted to drain away all the excess fluid that builds up in her head.

“If there’s one thing I can take away from this, it’s trust your mother’s instinct, because we know our babies inside out. Even when every doctor told me she was fine, my mother’s instinct told me that she wasn’t fine. Deep down I knew there was something.

“She’s a very poorly little girl, she’s just fighting and that’s all we can hope for.”

A Gofundme page has been set up by family friends of Claire and Karl’s to support them at this difficult time. To donate, click here.

Scunthorpe Live contacted Ancora Medical Practice for comment and put each of Claire’s claims to them. A spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about the concerns raised but GP duty of confidentiality means we are unable to comment.”

Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe

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