Edinburgh dad's heartbreak as baby's everyday symptom leads to devastating diagnosis
An Edinburgh dad has opened up on his family's devastation after their son's first birthday party led to a rare diagnosis.
Marc Robson and his partner Melinda Garratt noticed their little boy Finley wasn't his usual self on the day of his party, and he started throwing up. Finley still wasn't feeling right the day after, so the family decided to call 111.
Melinda, 31, and Marc, 32, said they were advised to visit a pharmacist. They were told it may be due to Finley transitioning from formula to cow's milk, though this didn't help his condition.
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After several trips to A&E, Finley began vomiting blood. Finley was eventually rushed to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, where doctors found a tumour on his brain.
Marc, who grew up in Edinburgh before starting a family in Newcastle, told Chronicle Live: "When we initially went to the RVI we thought it was going to be stomach issues, so hearing it was a tumour was very tough.
"The only way I can describe it is it was almost like I wasn't in my own body when I was hearing it. It was a strange feeling. Melinda was in tears."
Finley underwent an operation the following day which removed the majority of the tumour from his brain. Marc said: "They took him away from us at about 9.30am and we didn't see him again until 6.30pm. It was a very, very long day."
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Approximately one week later the family received preliminary results which revealed the tumour could be one of four aggressive forms. And on Monday (June 23) the family received the heartbreaking news that Finley's tumour was the most aggressive of the four - an Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT) - an extremely rare form of brain cancer. Finley will now begin chemotherapy on Monday (June 30).
Marc said: "I'm not sure if it has even sunk in fully for us yet. We've had quite a few sleepless nights. It's so hard to explain what it's like hearing the news. It's almost as if you're watching someone else get that news.
"I think the next stage when he has the chemo is when it's going to hit the most. When we need to manage the treatment and his wellbeing even more than we already do.
"Contact with family and friends is going to be non-existent because of the side effects and his immune system going down. And when he loses his hair we've decided that we're going to shave it off to get it over and done with.
"The doctor recommended we do that too because we didn't realise but when babies go through this they can easily choke on their hair when they're sleeping. We'll shave it off when we feel that his scars have healed from his operation."
Finley will receive chemotherapy for the next five months before undergoing tests to see if it has been successful. Reflecting on how Finley has been coping with treatment, Marc said: "He doesn't talk other than he's recently started saying 'dada' so he can't really tell you what's wrong.
"But you can tell he's been in a lot of pain since the operation, which is normal. After his first operation he didn't really move much, he was sleeping a lot and couldn't lift his head up so we had to hold him.
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"He used to love rolling around but you could see that it was frustrating him when he was trying to move but he couldn't because he was in pain and he didn't quite understand why he was in pain."
The couple have set up a GoFundMe page to help ease the financial burden they have already encountered since Finley became unwell. Marc, who works as a business development manager for a company which provides maintenance for care homes, is currently receiving full pay.
However, he is unsure how much he will be able to work once Finley begins chemo. Melinda, who works for Lookers car sales company, is currently off work.
As well as helping to manage bills and any unexpected costs that arise as the couple navigate treatments and time away from work, the money raised will also help the couple with hospital parking fees and travel expenses. For more information and how to donate visit the GoFundMe page here.
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