Devastated parents have explained that doctors called their baby boy’s behavior ‘attention seeking’ when he was actually suffering from a brain tumour.
Three-year-old Arthur Ridout’s parents have spent months begging doctors to take the little boy’s symptoms seriously.
His mother Lauren, from the UK, took her son to the doctor after he repeatedly complained of dizziness and headaches, but claims he was simply told to ‘keep an eye on him’.
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He was referred to a pediatrician after a second visit to the GP.
But before he could be seen, he was rushed to the emergency room after falling ill in the park with Lauren on February 5.
“Lauren went down a slide with him on his lap and when they got to the bottom he was dizzy and wanted to lie down in the dirt,” said the boy’s father, Simon.
“When they got to A&E, they saw several different doctors and one of them suggested Arthur might have been looking for attention, which really upset us.”
Arthur returned to the hospital two days later to see an optometrist and had a CT scan the next day.
It was then that his parents finally learned what had made their little boy sick.
The scan revealed that Arthur’s symptoms had been caused by a plum-sized brain tumor called aggressive medulloblastoma – the most common type of cancerous brain tumor in children.
Simon said: “It was a huge shock. We cried a lot.
“They sent us by ambulance on the M5 to the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
“When we got there, we met a surgeon, who explained to us that Arthur’s tumor was causing hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid causing pressure on the brain.”
The toddler underwent five lumbar punctures in five weeks to confirm that the cancer had not spread to his spine before undergoing emergency surgery to relieve cranial pressure on February 8.
Two days later, the brave little boy was back in theater for a 13-hour operation to remove the tumor.
Although the operation was a success, he developed posterior fossa syndrome – a common occurrence when removing medullablastoma in children – and had to relearn how to eat, talk, move and move. to walk.
After a grueling six-week course of radiotherapy to the head and spine, brave Arthur can now move around with the help of a walker and is starting to form sentences again.
However, the fight is far from over for the little boy who will soon start eight cycles of chemotherapy to prevent the tumor from growing back.
Inspired by his brave boy, Dad Simon raises funds for brain tumor research.
“The last few months have been life changing for my family and it has given me a new perspective on everything,” the father added.
“Before Arthur’s diagnosis, I spent a lot of my life working and probably not enough time with my wife and kids. I’m reassessing everything now and family life will definitely take priority.