A mother has called for earlier diagnosis of paediatric brain tumours after the death of her six-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n
Sam Tucker, originally from Bristol, believes \u00ab\u00a0opportunities were missed\u00a0\u00bb when her daughter Molly was diagnosed with a large mass. She later died in 2017 when the family were living in Dorset.<\/p>\n
Ms Tucker who, along with other bereaved mothers, delivered a study to health ministers showing how brain tumour treatment was not consistent across the country, said she wanted to make sure her daughter’s death was not \u00ab\u00a0for nothing\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Dorset Healthcare University Foundation said \u00ab\u00a0we do fully investigate all complaints\u00a0\u00bb but would not comment on individual cases.<\/p>\n
Ms Tucker said she had \u00ab\u00a0always wanted to be a mum\u00a0\u00bb and was \u00ab\u00a0so excited\u00a0\u00bb to have her first daughter Molly in 2010.<\/p>\n
She said at her eight-month check with a health visitor, Molly’s head circumference was measured as part of routine checks which showed it had risen but because no other symptoms were found there was \u00ab\u00a0no concern\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Looking back, Ms Tucker said she now feels this was a \u00ab\u00a0missed opportunity\u00a0\u00bb and should have been a \u00ab\u00a0red flag and referred\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Over the next two years, Ms Tucker said she felt \u00ab\u00a0exasperated\u00a0\u00bb because it was becoming \u00ab\u00a0more obvious that something was wrong, but nobody knew what it was\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
One morning, she went to get Molly out of bed and she was \u00ab\u00a0limp\u00a0\u00bb so she was immediately admitted onto the paediatric ward at Dorset County Hospital.<\/p>\n
While there, Molly had a seizure and was taken for a CT scan, where they found a \u00ab\u00a0mass on her brain that was so big they didn’t think they could remove it\u00a0\u00bb her mum said.<\/p>\n
Molly was then taken to Southampton Hospital for emergency surgery and her parents were warned that she may not survive the journey.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was never more scared in my life,\u00a0\u00bb said Ms Tucker.<\/p>\n
Molly had a 10-hour \u00ab\u00a0debulking\u00a0\u00bb operation to remove most of the tumour, a procedure that is normally done when the entire tumour is too large to remove or is in a place that makes complete removal unsafe.<\/p>\n
When the operation was over, the family said 5% of Molly’s tumour was left.<\/p>\n
Ms Tucker, who was pregnant with her second daughter Rebecca at the time, said she doesn’t how Molly survived as long as she did \u00ab\u00a0with that growing inside her\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Molly spent the next two weeks in intensive care before starting chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and was eventually able to go home and \u00ab\u00a0stabilised\u00a0\u00bb for 18 months.<\/p>\n
But in 2017 she relapsed, with Ms Tucker saying at this stage the tumour \u00ab\u00a0eventually took over\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Ms Tucker joined the Angel Mums – who have all lost children to brain tumours – in London to present a study to health ministers.<\/p>\n
Put together by the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, which is a brain cancer charity set up in memory of the former culture secretary and MP who died in 2015, the study includes 13 recommendations to change the way brain tumour patients are treated.<\/p>\n
Dr Nicky Huskens, CEO of the brain cancer mission, said the report showed \u00ab\u00a0core treatment\u00a0\u00bb such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy was \u00ab\u00a0consistent no matter where you live\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
But it can make a difference to the \u00ab\u00a0access you have to trials\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Dr Huskens said the study also found \u00ab\u00a0specialised care\u00a0\u00bb, to help patients return to school and provide mental health support, also differs based on location.<\/p>\n
The group set off from Westminster and walked to Great Ormond Street Hospital, wearing angel wings, where they handed the paper over before singing carols.<\/p>\n
Ms Tucker said she hopes the study will bring about change so Molly \u00ab\u00a0didn’t die for nothing\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The children who died don’t have a voice anymore, and if they did, they would be saying ‘go for it, make sure change happens’,\u00a0\u00bb she added.<\/p>\n
Minister for Public Health and Prevention Ashley Dalton said every child deserves \u00ab\u00a0equal access\u00a0\u00bb to treatment for brain cancer \u00ab\u00a0regardless of where they live\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
He said the Department of Health and Social Care was \u00ab\u00a0committed to giving all cancer patients access to clinical trials\u00a0\u00bb and keep making \u00ab\u00a0progress on cutting cancer waiting times\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A mother has called for earlier diagnosis of paediatric brain tumours after the death of her six-year-old daughter. Sam Tucker, originally from Bristol, believes \u00ab\u00a0opportunities were missed\u00a0\u00bb when her daughter Molly was diagnosed with a large mass. She later died in 2017 when the family were living in Dorset. Ms Tucker who, along with other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}