A West Lothian tot who lost his eye to a rare cancer at just four-weeks-old has been declared cancer free after allegedly being "fobbed off" by an eye clinic.
Caleb Mackay's family noticed when he was born in August 2021 that he had severe swelling behind his left eye. His mother Chloe Collins claims the youngster was fobbed off three times by doctors at Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh after being taken in for checks in the weeks following.
The 23-year-old persisted to take the youngster to get checked after medication he was put on to reduce swelling failed to work. In October, after four visits to the eye pavilion, doctors arranged for Caleb to go for an emergency CT scan which revealed he had a malignant rhabdoid tumour.
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The youngster from East Calder, West Lothian then had to undergo emergency surgery to remove his entire eye. He then had to undergo five rounds of chemotherapy while mum Chloe was told that if the cancer had spread then Caleb would have been placed on end of life care. Last month, on August 30, the one-year-old was given the all clear from his first MRI scan since finishing treatment at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.
Heartwarming footage shows Caleb ringing the bell at the hospital to signal that he was cancer-free in June this year. NHS staff lined the ward to cheer and celebrate as Caleb and his family were given a guard of honour.
Chloe is shown ducking under the arms carrying baby Caleb as dad Kyle Mackay, 21, carries Caleb's twin brother Carter and walks alongside big brother Kayden Mackay, 4. Caleb then grabs onto a rope to ring the bell as staff cheer and clap to signal the end of the Scot's tot's treatment with them. Kyle posted the video on TikTok in July, writing: "Our boy did it! He's such a little trooper, it's up from here onwards.
"I love you wee dude, you're my inspiration."
The video has now collected over five million views, more than 400,000 likes and over 5,000 comments from viewers who were overwhelmed by the clip.
One said: "I'm sobbing here but it's happy tears. Little warrior, well done little man.
Another wrote: "Congratulations brave little fella."
A third commented: "Well done little man, such a brave boy and what a fighter."
A fourth added: "I have just cried for a good 10 minutes. He's the cutest boy in the world and so strong. "I bet he gets all the love in the world, he deserves it all."
Chloe said: "Trying to get diagnosed was an absolute nightmare. We noticed swelling to the eye and lots of doctors looked at it and said there was nothing wrong.
"It kept getting worse and worse and then we went for an emergency CT scan which showed he had a tumour behind his eye. They sent us away with medication to try and shrink it but it was just getting worse and worse. "Then on the 20th of October he had to have his eye removed. It was horrendous, physically and emotionally.
"We were constantly fobbed off, being told nothing was wrong with him, but we knew there was. There 100 per cent might have been a chance to save his eye as this grew rapidly and aggressively.
"Then he had to go through five stages of chemotherapy every two weeks. We were told that if the cancer had spread anywhere else then he would have been put on end of life care.
"It was very emotional but amazing to finally get the all clear. It's absolutely amazing, we never thought we would be where we are today. He's a happy little boy now."
Dr Tracey Gillies, Medical Director for NHS Lothian, said on Wednesday: "We understand how distressing it can be when faced with an exceptionally rare and rapidly changing case, such as Caleb's, where aggressive surgery to remove the entire tumour is critical to survival.
"I would like to reassure his family that our teams took every possible step to diagnose and provide treatment without delay. In Caleb's case this was within two weeks for a conclusive diagnosis and just over three weeks to undergo treatment.
"Even in the case of an earlier diagnosis the treatment outcome would have been the same. "We would encourage Caleb's family to contact our service directly to discuss any concerns about his care."
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