The moment Georgia Barber heard the word ‘tumour’ leave the doctor’s mouth, the entire hospital room started spinning.
She had only taken her son Bobby in for a sore leg. The single mum noticed the 15-month-old had a limp and was dragging himself across the floor.
Medics initially thought Bobby had a fracture and sent him home in a cast. But when the pain continued, Georgia knew it was something sinister – refusing to leave A&E until tests were carried out.
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Her worst fears were realised after the pair were sent to Manchester Children’s Hospital. There, doctors found a tumour in Bobby's pelvis. It had grown through his spinal cord and caused nerve damage to his right leg.
The tot, from Rochdale, was immediately started on a chemotherapy course. After several weeks, there was a glimmer of hope. Bobby’s condition had improved drastically.
He was able to stand up by himself, walk using a Zimmer frame and Georgia could finally change his nappy without him being in complete agony.
But, in an unimaginably cruel twist of fate, a year after his diagnosis in May 2022, that familiar limp returned. Doctors said it might have been caused by stents in Bobby’s legs – but Georgia just knew.
A scan confirmed Bobby’s tumour had returned. Though he was immediately given new chemotherapy treatment, the tot was not getting better. He was in so much pain during the last two months of his life that he had to have an epidural.
Tragically, Bobby died on September 4, 2022. He was just two-years-old.
“It was absolutely awful,” Georgia said, recalling her son’s last days. “I knew when I was in that hospital room, I had to have positive vibes around me and be positive for Bobby.
“But there was a time I had to go to the bathroom and ask a nurse to stand with him because I knew if he had seen me upset and crying like that, he would have known there was something wrong. I tried to be strong for him.”
Bobby’s cancer, called rhabdomyosarcoma or RMS, is a type of sarcoma cancer that affects the muscles attached to the bone.
Rhabdomyosarcoma tumours occur mostly around the head and neck. Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer is the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma to occur in childhood, accounting for 53 per cent of cases.
“It was a huge shock,” Georgia continued. “I felt like my whole world stopped turning. I was so angry. When someone tells you that, it’s something you hear on the news or on social media and you feel sorry for them.
“You think, ‘Gosh, I’m thankful that’s not my baby,’ and when it happens it’s absolutely heartbreaking. It feels like your heart has been ripped out of your chest because you’re absolutely helpless. Because there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Georgia, 27, can recall the anguish of having to watch her only child suffer in agony for months on end.
“It’s always just been me and Bobby,” she said. “So being a single mum on my own, I had support from my mum and dad. But it was even more terrifying knowing I had to do it on my own, just me and Bobby.
“He was in so much pain, he couldn’t even get out of bed. We stayed in hospital from July to September and Bobby passed away while we were there. We learned [the cancer] had spread to his lungs as well.”
It was later learned Bobby also had a rare genetic condition which can increase the chance of tumours developing.
“No child should have to fight this fight,” Georgia added. “It’s gruelling and painful and as parents we shouldn’t have to see our babies go through this.
“[I am] so proud of Bobby. He fought with strength, bravery, resilience and all the smiles.”
Georgia is now set to do a 10k charity run for the oncology ward at Manchester Children’s Hospital which helped care for Bobby. The run will take place in July.
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