Schoolboy who fell ill after school diagnosed with life-threatening condition
22.04.2022 - 16:29
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A boy who started feeling unwell after returning to school following the national lockdown was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition.
Tom was only 13 years old when he was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GMB), an aggressive brain tumour with a life expectancy of just 12-18 months, the Liverpool Echo reports.
His mum Karen said he started to feel sick on and off throughout September 2020, which she put down to him going back to school after the first coronavirus lockdown.
The 47-year-old, originally from Bromborough, Wirral, and now living in Ellesmere Port, said: "I contacted doctors a few times. When he was off for school holidays in October he said he had double vision.
"He had a doctors appointment at the end of October and they said physically he was OK.
"He suffered a really bad migraine at the beginning of November so I contacted the opticians thinking it was his eyes due to being on computer a lot more."
Tom, now 14, was sent for an eye test the same day which found swelling behind his eye and he was sent straight from the opticians to the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Karen said: "He was admitted overnight to make sure he would get an MRI straight away the next morning. The next day he had MRI and we were told he had a brain tumour. Tom was physically shocked, I was in pieces.
"He was given steroids and sent in ambulance with flashing lights over to Alder Hey. By this time we had pulled ourselves together and Tom said he’s going to be ok. We were told he would need a operation in a few days."
Tom underwent further eye tests and scans at Alder Hey Children's Hospital before his operation - at which point Karen was told the surgeon wouldn't be able to remove all of the tumour.
A week after Tom's