My teenage son’s GP told him to ‘stop using his phone’ so much – months later he was diagnosed with a brain tumour
A TEENAGE boy was diagnosed with a brain tumour after months of being misdiagnosed with mental health conditions – and told to ‘stop using his phone’.
Oscar Fairs, 14, suddenly started suffering with regular panic attacks, severe headaches, voices in his head and heart palpitations.
For eight months his family were told his symptoms were mental-health-related and referred him to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Oscar, who plays for West Ham‘s U14s team, had counselling but things only got worse.
Having “had enough”, his mum Natalie, 40, demanded answers.
Oscar was seen by a GP who, to Natalie’s shock, said he had a migraine and needed “putting in a dark room for four days without his phone”, she said.
Stunned, Natalie took Oscar home but five days later she took him to A&E and an MRI scan eventually diagnosed Oscar with a 7cm brain tumour.
Doctors reckoned Oscar’s tumour could have been growing in his brain for up to two years.
Despite being given a bleak prognosis and told to prepare for palliative care, Oscar’s tumour shrunk through chemotherapy and radiotherapy and he’s now part of a clinical trial.
But doctors fear the lumps may become resistant to treatment.
Natalie, an emotional literacy support assistant from Benfleet, Essex, said: “I believe every child up to a certain age should be given a mandatory MRI scan to save more lives.
“I believe someone is accountable for the eight months beforehand where Oscar’s tumour was diagnosed as mental health and migraines.
“I gave them five or six symptoms in May and yet they still didn’t give us a scan.
“The doctor who finally took him to his unit was speechless when I told him it had been eight months before we were finally seen for a brain MRI.
“They reckon the tumour could have been in his head for two years before that.
“I have to be grateful that we have the NHS as where would I get the chemo and radiotherapy from as well as the surgeons and paediatric oncologists and radiologists, but it hurts that it took eight months as they are supposed to be the professionals.”
She said Oscar had been “an absolute superhero” throughout the ordeal and added she was grateful to his older brother Harry, 20, for supporting the teen.
Symptoms dismissed
Oscar’s first symptoms began in September 2022 when he complained that he had a funny feeling in his arm.
It was initially brushed off as numbness but when it started again accompanied by heart palpitations, Natalie was worried.
“The doctor asked Oscar if he was feeling anxious,” she said.
“But I pressed him and said it’s because of the symptoms he’s showing – not anxiety.
“I was told if it happens again, bring him back.”
Weeks later, Oscar went on to have a panic attack while climbing the stairs and Natalie rushed him back to hospital.
But doctors again dismissed her concerns and put it down to a mental-health-related issue and referred her to CAMHS.
“You cannot tell me, from looking at a child when a mum is saying to you that his heart is pumping out of his chest and he’s got weakness in his arm that it’s mental health,” Natalie said.
Symptoms of
SOME children may have symptoms for a few weeks or months before they’re diagnosed with ependymoma.
Many symptoms are general and non specific, while some are similar to less serious childhood illnesses.
Symptoms will also depend on where the tumour is. They can include:
- Headaches
- Feeling or being sick
- Loss of balance
- Seizures
- Head tilt
- Irritability
- Lacking energy
- Not gaining weight as they should (failure to thrive)
- Neck pain
- Speech problems
- Coordination problems
- Eyesight problems such as double vision, problems moving their eye, or changes to their pupil size
- Arm and leg weakness
- Not being able to control when they pass urine or poo
Ependymomas are most common in children under five years old.
Around 30 children are diagnosed with the cancer every year in the UK.
Source: Cancer Research UK
Over the next few months, Natalie continued to have Oscar assessed by doctors and counsellors but the outcome was the same.
After being told by a GP Oscar’s severe headaches was because of a migraine, a “stunned” Natalie was fed up and went to Southend Hospital.
She said: “I took him straight through to A&E and I told them he was dying.
“The doctor asked Oscar to smile and one side of his face didn’t move. I was convinced it was a stroke. I had no awareness of brain tumours.
“He went in for an MRI and they told us we’d saved our baby’s life.
“No one was listening to me in the end.”
Oscar was diagnosed with ependymoma, a rare type of tumour that develop in the brain or spinal cord.
Gruelling treatment
Oscar had the tumour removed in a 13-hour surgery.
He had six more surgeries to remove other cancerous lumps on his head.
Natalie and her husband, Russell Fairs, 45, site manager, were told to prepare Oscar for palliative care.
She said: “I was told all three options are palliative care.
“The third option was he has chemotherapy and radiotherapy to slow down or pause the cancer and to have five days of intense radiation to the whole head.
“If there was any shrinkage then they’d open a clinical trial for him.”
After being told to have a memorable Christmas, Natalie and Oscar received some incredible news.
I am desperate to find a cure to give my son a life. If there is anyone that can help save my child out there then get in touch. My son is priceless
Natalie Fairs
She said: “A week into January we were told there was shrinkage so they were going to open a trial and no one with an ependymoma had had a trial like this before.
“We burst into tears, running around the house with happiness and I asked the oncologist where this would leave us now.”
The trial involved Oscar was enrolled in involved him having chemotherapy every fortnight for four months.
“An MRI showed there was no significant change since January,” Natalie said.
“So we then had a meeting with the radiotherapy surgeon again and they’re now giving him 54 volts of radiation over 30 days.
“We’re now six weeks into that and we keep fighting.”
‘Desperate for a cure’
Natalie has since been told that if Oscar’s cancerous lumps continue to be active they may be resistant to radiation.
“I need to get it out there to anyone that can help that specialises in ependymoma’s that can offer us treatment or surgery,” she said.
She added: “I am desperate to find a cure to give my son a life.
“If there is anyone that can help save my child out there then get in touch. My son is priceless.”
Family friends have put together a GoFundMe on Oscar’s behalf to raise support him through his treatment.
Dr Karen Noble, director of research, policy and innovation at Brain Tumour Research, said: “There is a chronic lack of therapeutics and clinical trials available for boys like Oscar.
“There is no one size fits all when it comes to treating brain tumours and our Centre of Excellence in Plymouth is continuing research into ependymomas and their complexity.
“It is critical that appropriate research funding is put in place so that parents such as Natalie and Russell don’t feel forced to source hope overseas after exhausting what is currently available in the UK.
“We should provide it here. We’re grateful to Natalie and her family for helping us raise vital awareness of brain tumours to help future generations who receive this devastating diagnosis.”