A heartbroken mum assumed her daughter had simply eaten too much at a kids' party when she fell sick - only for it be a cancerous brain tumour. Seven-year-old Lexi Bryant began throwing up on the school run after attending a family party, leading her mum Belinda Bryant to believe she had just 'overindulged' or picked up a tummy bug.
But when the schoolgirl was still being sick a week later, her parents became concerned something more serious was going on and took her to their local GP. Belinda believes doctors 'failed' Lexi as she claims the youngster was sent home from 20 hospital visits over the next five weeks, despite her daily vomiting becoming so severe she burst a blood vessel and lost weight rapidly.
But the 30-year-old mum says doctors at East Surrey Hospital repeatedly sent her on her way and refused to do further testing as Lexi always 'bounced back' by the afternoon. A CT scan eventually revealed that she has a brain tumour and in a further two blows, an MRI scan found a second tumour on her spine before a biopsy confirmed that both are cancerous.
After being told Lexi has a 50 per cent chance of surviving, the devastated family are now urging other parents to push for further testing if their child shows similar symptoms. A spokesperson for the hospital said they are 'deeply saddened' by the news and are now 'reviewing' the care they provided to Lexi.
Belinda, from Horsham, West Sussex, said: "We went to my niece and nephew's twin birthday party and then a couple of days later she started being sick. I just thought she'd stuffed her face too much at the party because kids tend to indulge at parties.
"So I left it for a little while and didn't send her to school in case it was a sickness bug or food poisoning. Then the sickness started going on for longer, it went on for like a week and I'm now getting concerned because it's been going on for so long.
"She was constantly being sick and nothing was staying down. She started getting really lethargic and tired, just sleeping all the time and was going downhill. I was thinking 'this is something more than just a sickness bug or overindulging, this is something more serious'."
After numerous hospital admissions and being sick almost daily for five weeks, doctors at East Surrey Hospital finally did a CT scan and discovered the real cause of Lexi's sickness - a brain tumour. The schoolgirl was immediately transferred to St George's Hospital, in Tooting, London, where an MRI later revealed a second tumour on her spine.
Belinda said: "They came over and gave me the [CT scan] results that Lexi had a brain tumour. I was devastated, I was lost for words. We were both very shaken up by the news because you don't think it's going to happen to your child until it does.
"The next thing I knew I had an ambulance crew standing in front of me saying 'we're blue-lighting you to St George's right now. It happened very, very quickly. They did an MRI at St George's because they wanted to check the size of the tumour in her head and that's when it showed up that she had a spinal tumour as well.
"It's connected - it's something to do with the fluid that runs into the spinal cord. That was another horrible blow."
After the heartbreaking discovery of Lexi's brain tumour, doctors at St George's Hospital fitted a shunt to relieve some of the pressure which was causing severe headaches and light sensitivity.
During the procedure, the surgeon also took a biopsy of the tumour for testing but the results unfortunately came back inconclusive. After an MRI scan revealed the second tumour on Lexi's spine, doctors then took a biopsy from there.
The results came back the following week and confirmed the family's worst fear - it was cancer. They are still awaiting pathology results to confirm what grade the cancer is.
Belinda said: "The consultant at St George's said Lexi has had this tumour for about six months. He was quite shocked with how quickly her symptoms started to develop and quickly she went downhill.
"It's been confirmed Lexi does have cancer. The tumour is growing rapidly and it has grown more since she last had an MRI. It's very aggressive and it is life-threatening. Lexi's got a 50 per cent chance of survival. It's heartbreaking to hear as her mum."
The mum of two says the 'rollercoaster' ordeal started when she took her daughter to her local GP in early May after she had been sick daily for a week with no signs of improvement. Belinda claims the doctor ran some tests and found that Lexi had a urine infection and so prescribed antibiotics but she continued to vomit frequently and couldn't keep the antibiotics down.
After further testing the following week, the mum says the GP found E. coli in Lexi's urine and sent her to East Surrey Hospital for treatment. There, doctors kept her in overnight and prescribed a new course of antibiotics but Lexi's sickness persisted and she spent five hours straight vomiting in hospital the next morning.
Despite this, Belinda says doctors sent them home that afternoon, 'convinced that she was going to get better' as she was 'bouncing back' after a few hours. But Lexi was repeatedly readmitted over the next few weeks as her daily vomiting spells became so severe she burst an internal blood vessel and began bringing up blood.
The mum claims she begged doctors to do an MRI or CT scan to rule out any issues with her head that may have been causing her sickness but says they initially refused. Belinda said: "Initially they asked if she'd hit her head and I said we were at a party but I asked all the family members who were watching her and no one saw her hit her head.
"I asked them to please do a CT scan or MRI to rule out it being something in her head and the doctor said 'there's not enough medical evidence to warrant her having either'. Lexi stopped vomiting for a couple of days but then she started again and it was getting worse and lasting longer - it was eight to nine hours and that was going on for five days straight.
"I phoned the doctors again and took her straight in and they could see that she had got worse. They rushed her to our local hospital again and they did all the tests on her again and weren't worried because she was bouncing back again and was full of beans.
"So we got sent home again in a couple of hours and a few days after Lexi was being sick again which they couldn't understand. They said 'we can't do anything for her because she's bouncing back quickly' and within 24 hours Lexi went downhill to the point I had to call an ambulance because she had burst a blood vessel and was bringing up blood.
"We got rushed to hospital in an ambulance and there was a paediatric nurse who had seen us before and she spoke to the doctors. She said 'this little girl has been admitted multiple times, she needs a CT scan' so then they did end up doing the CT scan. By this time it's been about five weeks of Lexi vomiting nearly every day. They have failed my little girl."
After a biopsy confirmed that Lexi's tumours are cancerous, she began intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, Surrey. The treatment will last six weeks, followed by a six-week break before she undergoes further monthly chemo treatments with a two-night hospital stay each time.
The Surrey hospital has provided the family with a flat nearby for the duration of Lexi's first block of treatment. Lexi's mum Belinda and dad Luke Bryant, 30, have both been forced to give up work to be there for their daughter during her chemo treatment, putting them under mounting financial pressure.
They are also having to juggle caring for their other child, Callum, 11, who is not allowed to join them on hospital visits and is moving between living with them and staying with family back in Sussex. The couple are now fundraising to help relieve some of this financial strain and cover their travel costs to and from the hospital, particularly once they are forced to move back home full time. To donate to their fundraiser, click here.
The mum now hopes to warn other parents to look out for any worrying, persistent symptoms and to get their child checked out if they think there could be something serious behind it.
Belinda said: "At first you don't think it's something serious because they're just being sick - you don't immediately think 'my child's got a brain tumour'. You think of the other things like food poisoning or a bug from school but if any parent starts seeing these signs in a child, please get them checked out.
"You know your child as a parent. Keep fighting and do not give up until you get the answers you need. If you've taken them to the hospital and they've run all the normal tests and they've come back clear, ask for those further tests to be done and don't take no for an answer. That's the lesson we have had to learn."
A spokesperson for Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "I am deeply saddened to hear this story and now that it has been brought to our attention we are immediately reviewing the care we provided. We would be very keen to speak with the family to understand more and to involve them in our review."
