A toddler whose stomach pains were initially thought to be constipation has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. Tommy Paul Quinn, from Bishopbriggs near Glasgow, felt unwell after returning from a family holiday in January.
Mum Nicole, 37, and dad David, 41, noticing the two-year-old’s symptoms were brought on after eating certain foods. At first, Nicole thought he may have a food allergy but the tot was also struggling to sleep.
It wasn’t until nurse Nicole was having a family party and noticed that little Tommy was uninterested in playing, had seemed lethargic, and had not drank anything or gone to the toilet that alarm bells started ringing. The mum called NHS 24 and the parents were told to go to Glasgow Children’s Hospital.
Nicole told Glasgow Live: “We had given him something to drink when we got home and we woke to find he had been sick everywhere. I just had a feeling that we needed to take him back because something wasn’t right. He wasn’t his usual self but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it was what it would turn out to be.”
Tommy was seen by a doctor, who initially thought that it could be constipation and asked to examine his stomach. The mum added: “The registrar came in and felt his tummy and her face just dropped. Everything started spiralling from there.”
The tot had blood taken and an IV line installed, and a consultant organised an ultrasound scan for the youngster. Nicole said: “The consultant advised us that the mass is unlikely to be constipation and given his age and other symptoms, it is likely to be something nasty.
“Tommy had his scan the next day. The radiologist left the room and returned a while later advising the consultant would see us in the ward. We knew then something serious was going on.”
Following weeks of testing, Nicole was given the heartbreaking news that the tot had Stage 4 High-Risk Neuroblastoma, an aggressive and rare childhood cancer, which has a 50 per cent survival rate. Doctors found the youngster had a tumour on his adrenal gland, with secondary manifestations in his lymph nodes, thorax and spinal cord.
The mum said: “He is a typical boisterous boy who loves playing with cars. You see these things happening in the news but you never expect it to happen to your son.”
However, cheeky chappy Tommy hasn’t let the diagnosis keep him down, the mum revealed. She said: “He is blissfully unaware he is so sick. He’ll be attached to four or five chemo lines and doing forward rolls in the ward. Me and David have to chase him with the machines when he is on his scuttle bug to make sure he doesn’t go too far away.
“It took him four or five chemo rounds to come back to himself. But he is a whirlwind now. He had keyhole surgery for his tumour and got home two days later. I looked away from him and he was outside on his trampoline bouncing away.
“He has amazed us all with his resilience and strength, keeping his cheeky smile and mischievous nature and making us so proud of how he is coping daily and taking it all in his stride.”
The toddler now has 18 months of treatment until the family will know if the cancer is in remission. However, the mum says that even if the treatment is successful, there is still a very high risk that Tommy could relapse and his cancer could come back which is “frighteningly common2 with High Risk Neuroblastoma.
If it returns, Tommy’s chances of survival would drop drastically to 5-10 per cent, but the family remains positive about his chances and has launched a fundraiser to cover the costs of future treatment, which could see them forced to travel to England or as far as the United States with costs as high as £250,000 for treatment
Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.
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