A mum claims her baby boy was sent home from hospital twice before doctors discovered he had a brain tumour.
Rachel Porter, 34, from Bootle, "knew something wasn't right" with her two and a half year old son, Luca, when he started being sick and losing his balance in September 2021.
Rachel took her son to Alder Hey on September 4 after she noticed her son wasn't running right, despite always being fine when he played football with his brothers.
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Doctors ran tests on Luca but didn't find anything wrong with him and referred him to an orthopaedic doctor.
Just two days later Rachel and Dad, David Pennell ,36, then noticed Luca's right eye was 'lazy' and took him back to Alder Hey.
Again, they said everything was okay and sent them home.
Over the weekend Luca did not get better and Rachel took him to Ormskirk Hospital.
Rachel told The ECHO: "I knew something wasn't right so we took him to Ormskirk Hospital. I told them I wanted a CT scan.
"After the CT scan they told me Luca had a brain tumour and referred me back to Alder Hey and they were absolutely brilliant."
On September 21 Luca was diagnosed with a mid brain/upper brain stem tumour (grade I) and Alder Hey booked him in for surgery to remove it.
Rachel, who has five other children, said she was "daunted" when she was told about her son's diagnosis.
She said: "I was on my own when they told me, it's turned my life upside down. You just have to put on a brave face for the kids and for Luca.
"They got the whole tumour out in the surgery but there was a complication of mutism which means he has a tremor. We don't know if his eye will return back (to normal)."
Luca stayed at Alder Hey for 11 weeks and Rachel said their care was "second to none".
She added: "They were absolutely brilliant with him and the family, the surgeon was amazing and they never left him alone for more than five minutes.
"He's now home and we're adjusting to that. We now have MRI's every three months to make sure everything is okay. He's progressing really well."
Rachel now wants to raise awareness to other parents to make sure they know the side affects of brain tumours so they can look out for symptoms in their kids.
She has shared a video with The ECHO showing how Luca was running days before his brain tumour was diagnosed to raise awareness.
The mum-of-six said: "Vomiting, issues with eyes and weakness with balances are all side affects people should be looking out for. I would also tell parents to keep on going, not take no for an answer and trust their mothers instinct."
Once Luca returned home occupational therapy came to risk asses the family-of-eight's home to make sure it was safe.
The team said the home was too small and not safe enough for Luca, so the family have been forced to move home.
Rachel's friends asked if they would be able to fundraise to make sure the families new home was up to scratch, as he would be spending a lot of time on the floor.
The GoFundMe has raised £540 in four days and Rachel said she was '"overwhelmed" by the support.
To donate to Luca's GoFundMe click here.
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