7 Year-Old Misdiagnosed For Flat Feet Discovered To Have Leukemia

Sad News for parents of 7 year old whose earlier diagnosis, turns out to be leukemia. Continue reading…..

According to Daily Mail;

A mother was repeatedly told her six-year-old daughter had ‘flat feet’ by doctors when in fact she had cancer. Erin Gray started limping in May 2012 but doctors initially told her parents Lorraine, 49, and Richard, 52, it was caused by her flat feet.

However, her condition deteriorated and the youngster was left paralyzed from the waist down following a dance class in November 2012. After being sent to hospital for blood tests the next day her parents were given the devastating news that she had leukaemia.

Mrs Gray, a mother-of-five, said: ‘We were absolutely heartbroken.‘It came as a real shock because we’d taken her to the doctors seven times since she started limping and cancer wasn’t mentioned.‘At first they thought it was because she is flat footed and then we were told it was in her imagination.‘I wasn’t happy with that attitude but I didn’t think it would be something as serious as it was.

‘Another time we were told it was because she had a scab on her knee where she’d fallen over and she didn’t want to bend her leg.‘We thought that maybe it would improve with time so we kept an eye on it for a few months.‘She went on a field trip with the school during the summer and her teacher contacted us and said Erin had really struggled to walk around so we took her back to the doctors.’

After being referred to hospital by her GP, on November 7, 2012, Erin was diagnosed with Perthes’ Disease, a condition at the top of the thigh bone which causes it to soften and break down. Mrs Gray, who works for the Royal British Legion, said: ‘We were quite positive, and we even said it was life changing, but not life threatening.‘The worst case scenario was that she would need a hip replacement when she was 40.’

However, Erin, who is now seven, soon became lethargic and was experiencing terrible night sweats – so doctors diagnosed a virus.Mrs Gray said: ‘She was coming home from school and would curl up on the sofa with a blanket. ‘She didn’t want to play either and it was very out of character.‘She seemed to find everything really exhausting and she was so pale.‘We took her back to the doctors and asked if there were any tests they could do.’

Erin was sent to Blackpool Hospital for blood tests – where the schoolgirl was diagnosed with leukaemia on December 11.Mrs Gray said: ‘We were devastated.‘We were starting on this roller coaster of emotions and I still don’t know how we coped.‘We never expected it would be anything as serious as that.‘I just burst into tears.’

Since her diagnosis, Erin, from Wesham, Lancashire, proved herself a fighter and took to the chemotherapy so well she was able to return to school the following March.She still has to have a full blood transfusion every six weeks, and has chemotherapy every day at home as well as intravenously every four weeks, which leaves her feeling lethargic.She will come off chemotherapy in just over 40 weeks, and will have check ups at Manchester Children’s Hospital for the next three years.

Mrs Gray added: ‘Erin astounds me.‘You hear the word cancer and you can’t help but think it’s a death sentence, but Erin is a fighter.

Source: Daily Mail