'Doctors mistook my baby's rare tumour as teething'

Katie with her daughter, Poppy, as they waited in hospital for Poppy's biopsy

A mum has described her "living hell" after she was told her daughter had a life-threatening brain tumour which doctors had previously dismissed as teething.

Katie, from Preston, said her daughter Poppy had begun having unusual episodes in 2019 after turning one, including staring into space, clicking her tongue and passing out.

Poppy, now six, was taken to A&E several times, but her parents said they had been turned away by doctors who put the behaviour down to teething.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it was "always sorry" if patients felt concerns over any of its care, but added some complex conditions were not always diagnosed immediately.

Katie, 36, said: "I felt completely helpless because we kept being sent home, but my gut told me there was something seriously wrong."

Eventually, Poppy was given an MRI scan at Royal Preston Hospital.

Her parents, Katie and Colin, were told she had a shadow on her brain and "doctors weren't sure if it was a tumour or an infection".

Katie said: "I felt like I was living in hell, uncertain about what was happening and terrified that my baby might die."

She said it had been a "frightening chapter" for the family and for Poppy's brother Jack, 10, adding: "He was deeply affected witnessing his sister's seizures."

Poppy, pictured on her first birthday a couple of weeks before her symptoms began, has been given the all-clear

After further tests and scans, Poppy was transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital for a biopsy.

Doctors told the family she had a ganglioglioma - a rare type of brain tumour that is often slow-growing and benign.

While it was not cancerous, it was causing her to experience as many as 10 seizures per day.

Katie and Colin made the decision to send Poppy for surgery.

Poppy just after her surgery in November 2019

Katie said they had felt as though they were waiting "years" for Poppy to have the 11-hour operation after her initial scheduled appointment was cancelled due to "a lack of high dependency beds".

But in November 2019 Poppy was wheeled into the theatre and had the tumour removed.

"We were beyond ecstatic, she bounced back so quickly and to see her running around just days after surgery was nothing short of miraculous, " said Katie.

Poppy with her older brother, Jack, after being given the all-clear

Poppy has since been given the all-clear, five years after her diagnosis.

"Not a day goes by when we don't feel incredibly lucky," Katie said.

The family want to help others and have been fundraising for Brain Tumour Research.

A Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: "If any patient has ongoing concerns about their or their child's health, their first port of call should be their GP who can refer them into the most appropriate place for assessment or treatment, which often isn't A&E.

"We are always sorry if patients or parents have any concerns about any aspect of their own or their child's care at any of our hospitals.

"We would strongly encourage them to get in touch with the Patient Advice and Liaison team who can ensure that an investigation takes place as quickly as possible."