'GP said my girl had anxiety - real diagnosis is every parent's worst nightmare'
After complaining about having a sharp pain in her side as well as a fever and breathlessness that came out of nowhere, Christina Harris did what any parent would do and took her daughter to the GP.
However she was not prepared for what was about to come. Doctors told her that her Skye, 10, was suffering from anxiety, but Christina, 46, from Essex, knew that it was unlike her 'bubbly and active' daughter and that there was more to it.
Acting on her mother's instinct, Christina saw that Skye was still in pain, while the fever continued, so she took her to A&E a few days later.
"Sometimes you just have to go with your instincts when you know something is wrong," Christina told The Mirror. Determined to know what was causing her daughter to be in pain, doctors then did several scans, including an X-ray and noticed shadowing on Skye's ribcage.
"They initially thought it may be an infection or something and gave her some antibiotics to clear it up," Christina recalled. "I hoped this was the case, and we went home with antibiotics."
But after a few days, and still unsure, Christina rushed her daughter back to A&E after Skye had another temperature in the middle of the night, and she knew deep down her daughter wasn't getting any better. "You just go into a pilot mode, I was blocking out any type of negative thoughts I was having, and just wanted what was best for my daughter."
During this visit, doctors then found Skye's lungs full of mucus. She was diagnosed with pneumonia, which was the reason for her excruciating pain, and after further investigation and more blood tests, it turned out to be something much worse.
On December 7, 2021, the keen dancer was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), a rare type of blood cancer and was blue-lighted to Great Ormond Street Hospital to begin her chemotherapy treatment. "I knew something wasn't right, she kept complaining of this pain, even in her sleep, it wasn't normal," the worried mum reflected.
"It was scary when they told me she had pneumonia. Obviously I did not anticipate what was to come. It's every parent's worst nightmare."
Christina, a mother of two, sadly lost her job as an estate agent because she needed to support her daughter and became a full-time carer. Her son Marley, 13 at the time, was able to spend time at his dad's house more frequently as Christina cared for Skye.
"You just know deep down when something isn't right, but I never thought it would be that Skye had leukaemia, you just have to go with your instincts in these moments and I am so glad I did. When we got the news, I just went into flight mode and I couldn't think of anything other than the fact my daughter had cancer.
READ MORE: 'Entitled mum approached me in restaurant with demanding request for her son'
"I cried so much when we got to Great Ormond Street, but in a strange way, I finally felt safe. I was just so pleased that they had found out what was wrong." Skye then spent 11 days in Great Ormond Street, where she began her chemotherapy treatment.
"We were at Great Ormond Street multiple times a week, as well as appointments at our local hospital too. She was having such aggressive chemotherapy which went on for six months.
"I had to also make sure I was keeping an eye on her temperature, as if it went to 38 degrees I'd need to rush her to hospital. I knew when she wasn't right."
Skye was put on strong antibiotics every time she had a high fever due to her weakened immune system and was having chemotherapy given in multiple ways, including into her thigh, as well as into her spine.
"This type of leukaemia is one of the longest cancer treatments for children and it made Skye really poorly." Skye finished her treatment after a year, and then moved on to maintenance chemotherapy, designed to help keep cancer from coming back after it has disappeared following the initial therapy.
While she felt extremely unwell during her treatment, Skye said she enjoyed going to Great Ormond Street as she had become friends with all of the doctors and nurses. She was also treated to takeaways and feasted on food when she felt up to it.
Skye said: "I wasn't at school and I wasn't making any friends so it was hard, but I got to know all of the nurses and they were really nice to me. It wasn't a nice experience but I managed to find some joys in between and my mum let me have any kind of food I wanted so we would always get a Nando's or a Pizza Express."
Recalling the time spent in hospital, Chrisina said it was "horrendous" and detailed: "It was really hard. You never want this for anyone, let alone your own children and it was really difficult.
"I think you just sort of switch off from everything else and just go into this type of pilot mode. You have to give her everything she needs and I got to a point where I had this diary where I'd tick off hour by hour which medication I was giving her.
"She needed certain medications at exact times so it was a lot to do - I was basically a nurse looking after her. I was trying to just block out any negative thoughts and just focus on giving her what she needed. "The first nine months, when she was having the most intensive part of the treatment, we couldn't leave the house and the only people that could come in were the nurses.
"My parents live in Denmark so I was doing it all alone, and my son Marley had to get dropped at his dad's a lot of the time, especially when Skye needed to be rushed into hospital quickly - even in the middle of the night."
Skye was finally able to ring the bell on March 30 last year and has been in remission since. She also celebrated with an end of treatment party, something she had been looking forward to for the past three years.
Now 13, Skye is doing really well and says she wants to be a nutritionist at GOSH. She said: "I really want to be a nutritionist, my time in treatment has really inspired me to help others like the way the doctors and nurses have helped me.
GOSH Charity is currently raising £300m to build a new Children's Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street, which will help thousands of children like Skye. Skye and her mum Christina say the new centre will be "amazing" for patients like her.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wales Online
3 hours ago
- Wales Online
Gran preparing to die left family goodbye notes - then made 'miraculous' recovery
Gran preparing to die left family goodbye notes - then made 'miraculous' recovery Carole had been in and out of A&E for months but it wasn't until her daughter discovered a new medical device that she got to the bottom of her condition Carole said her friends used to cry when they visited her because of the state she was in (Image: Jam Press) A woman with deteriorating health was 'prepared to die' and writing out her last goodbyes to her family when her daughter made a last-ditch attempt for something that could help. Now Carole's 'miraculous' recovery has given her a new lease of life. She has even managed to move out of the care home she had been forced into. Carole's health issues first began after her husband's death in 2016 when she started overworking herself to keep busy. When she eventually retired at 65, the Devon local could feel her health fading fast. She told NeedToKnow: 'I noticed my bladder and gut had both stopped working, and I was really struggling to live comfortably. Over the next few years, I became increasingly ill, fatigued, and debilitated, also living with a lot of gut pain. 'I was so depressed and anxious as I had no idea what was happening to me, and the doctors had no answers. I became reliant upon antidepressants and different drugs.' Carole from Devon was penning her goodbyes when she started her 'miraculous' recovery (Image: Jam Press) By late 2023, Carole - she gave no last name - decided to move into a residential care home as she found herself journeying to A&E every few months at this point. She said: 'Every time I went to them, they would check me over and just send me straight back home. Article continues below 'I was constantly being told it was just anxiety, but it felt as though someone's hand was constantly squeezing my heart. My mobility had drastically declined, and I was in a poor state both physically and mentally. 'I knew I was going to die. I just felt so sick and like no one could fix it. I decided to write poems to my family as a way of saying goodbye.' But Carole's daughter Anna refused to give up and with a background in the health industry, the 42 year old believed she knew where to look. She eventually found a wearable medical device called Nurosym, which stimulates the vagus nerve, a vital connection between your brain, heart and digestive system. In November, a full year after moving to the care home, Carole got her Nurosym and first started noticing her sleeping patterns getting better within a matter of days. This quickly snowballed and left her pleading with the staff to let her out of her wheelchair. She said: 'When you look into it, the vagus nerve was the answer to all of my conditions, but there seems to be an ignorance to it. The doctors just never mentioned it. 'It was miraculous, everything just started to get better! After my sleep initially started to improve within just a couple of days, I started to see there might be a chance for me to get some quality of life back, but it just kept on improving. 'I was starting to worry the care home staff as everyone really just sat around in their chairs, and I had only been in wheelchairs since I came, but suddenly I wanted to walk around and just kept asking them to let me out!' Carole has now been able to move back home and enjoy an active life with her family (Image: Jam Press) Carole started reducing the number of medications she took and was able to move back into her own home in April. Her recovery was so transformational it prompted Anna to buy her own Nurosym and try it out for herself. Article continues below She said: 'Mum's not susceptible to placebo at all, this is something that has really worked for her, and changed her life. She has no side effects anymore from the ridiculous number of drugs she was having to take, and we desperately want people to know there is a way for people to get better in a non-invasive way. 'I've even invested in my own device as I suffer from anxiety. For me, my sleep improved within just a few weeks, I don't get this sinking feeling in my stomach anymore, and I just have such a positive frame of mind that it's completely changed my outlook.' Carole shared: 'My friends used to come and see me and just cry; now they're still crying when they visit, but it's for a completely different reason.'
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'Underwear I bought from TikTok melted into my skin leaving second degree burns'
Molly-May Watson had to rip the TikTok shop underwear off her body when it burned onto her skin. Despite being rushed to hospital she was only given £10 in compensation A woman has been left with second degree burns after shapewear she purchased on TikTok shop "melted" into her skin. Molly-May Watson, 27, bought the £8.57 "Spanx-like" shorts in May 2024 through a seller called MOONGIRL-UK on the social media app. She wore them for the first time under a dress while attending a baby shower, for her sister on July 27, 2024 and thought a bee had flown into her dress after she 'felt this burning' on her upper right thigh. Rushing to the bathroom to see what had happened, Molly-May was forced to rip her shorts off after she says the elastane stretchy material had "melted" into her skin. She attended A&E at St Thomas' Hospital, London, the following day where she was told she could be "scarred for life". After complaining to TikTok Shop through the help function on the app, she says she was given just a £10 coupon as compensation. Molly-May, an executive assistant, from Kennington, south London, said: "I felt this burning on my upper bum cheek and side of my leg. She said: "For some reason I thought a bee had got into my dress. I went to the toilet to see what the hell was going on. The shorts had melted into my leg. "So I've had to rip them off and I've been left with first and second degree burns. I'm unable to walk properly at the moment. The hospital where I went said I could be scarred for life at this point." Molly-May had only worn the shorts once before briefly, to try them on and make sure they fit, before her sister's baby shower. After taking them off and getting through the rest of the event in pain Molly-May attended hospital the following day to get checked over. "I thought 'I'll just leave it' but it was agonising and had gotten worse," she said. I had to go to A&E on the Monday and had to be treated in the urgent treatment centre for burns. "I've been bandaged up ever since. They confirmed it's definitely a burn and that's what happened. They said 'it's strange, we don't really know if it's a heat burn or a chemical reaction'." Molly-May added: "I now can't find the seller on Google - which makes me think it wasn't legit in the first place. I sent TikTok Shop a message with pics of all the burns and the melted shorts and said 'this is what happened'. I spoke to an agent and said they'd need to pass it on to a specialist team. I sent another chaser message. 'They came back to me and said, 'We can refund you and give you a £10 coupon.' I said 'I don't feel comfortable accepting a coupon from you to be honest'. I'll never be shopping from that shop again. It's insulting. They said, 'Unfortunately nothing we can do'.! "When I've been talking to friends and people at work and stuff, they've told me they've bought similar things and said 'we felt really irritated'. It's just made me overly aware now. You think 'that's a nice little bargain' but it could leave you like me scarred for life. 'Any sort of budget or third party sellers I won't ever order from them again. I'm starting to scar already from some bits of the burn'. Molly-May has had to work from home whilst she recovers, and has been advised to attend the doctors if she sees any changes. TikTok confirmed the listing and seller page was removed from the platform in June last year. A spokesperson said TikTok has already responded and given compensation to the buyer after the complaint.
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'I said goodbye to my family as I prepared to die - then a miracle happened'
70-year-old Carole was 'prepared to die' after being in and out of A&E for months with doctors baffled about what was plaguing her A 70-year-old woman who was "prepared to die" and even wrote her final goodbyes to her family has experienced a "miraculous" recovery. She has even managed to move out of the care home she had been forced into by her ill health. Carole's health problems began after her husband's death in 2016 when she started overworking herself to keep busy. When she finally retired at 65, the Devon local could feel her health rapidly deteriorating. She told to NeedToKnow: "I noticed my bladder and gut had both stopped working, and I was really struggling to live comfortably. Over the next few years, I became increasingly ill, fatigued, and debilitated, also living with a lot of gut pain. "I was so depressed and anxious as I had no idea what was happening to me, and the doctors had no answers. I became reliant upon antidepressants and different drugs." By late 2023, Carole - she has not given her last name - decided to move into a residential care home as she found herself frequently visiting A&E. She said: "Every time I went to them, they would check me over and just send me straight back home. "I was constantly being told it was just anxiety, but it felt as though someone's hand was constantly squeezing my heart. My mobility had drastically declined, and I was in a poor state both physically and mentally. "I knew I was going to die. I just felt so sick and like no one could fix it. I decided to write poems to my family as a way of saying goodbye." However, Carole's daughter Anna, with her background in the health industry, refused to accept this fate for her mum. The 42 year old believed she knew where to look and eventually discovered a wearable medical device called Nurosym, which stimulates the vagus nerve, a crucial link between your brain, heart and digestive system. In November, a full year after moving into the care home, Carole received her Nurosym and within days she began noticing improvements in her sleep patterns. This kept on improving, leading her to beg the staff to let her out of her wheelchair. She explained: "When you look into it, the vagus nerve was the answer to all of my conditions, but there seems to be an ignorance to it. The doctors just never mentioned it. "It was miraculous, everything just started to get better! After my sleep initially started to improve within just a couple of days, I started to see there might be a chance for me to get some quality of life back, but it just kept on improving. "I was starting to worry the care home staff as everyone really just sat around in their chairs, and I had only been in wheelchairs since I came, but suddenly I wanted to walk around and just kept asking them to let me out!". Carole began to reduce her medication intake and managed to move back into her own home in April. Her recovery was so remarkable that it inspired Anna to purchase her own Nurosym and give it a go. She said: "Mum's not susceptible to placebo at all, this is something that has really worked for her, and changed her life. She has no side effects anymore from the ridiculous number of drugs she was having to take, and we desperately want people to know there is a way for people to get better in a non-invasive way. "I've even invested in my own device as I suffer from anxiety. For me, my sleep improved within just a few weeks, I don't get this sinking feeling in my stomach anymore, and I just have such a positive frame of mind that it's completely changed my outlook." Carole added: "My friends used to come and see me and just cry; now they're still crying when they visit, but it's for a completely different reason."
