A four-year-old ballet dancer who was wrongly told she had growing pains actually had cancer.
Charlotte Watson, now five, from Brighton, suffered fatigue last July and soon after began suffering from toe pain and loss of appetite.
Her mother Angela West took her to see a doctor in September but claimed medics dismissed her symptoms as just growing pains.
Ms West also thought her foot pain could be down to her ballet classes.
Tests two months later revealed Charlotte had stage four neuroblastoma.
Ms West, a 41-year-old hairdresser, said: 'When we initially found out it was a tumour, I could feel the ground falling from beneath me.
'The treatment started right away which is a gruelling protocol that adults couldn't even deal with.'
Charlotte is about to begin a second round of immunotherapy, and her family are fundraising for her to be part of a vaccine trial that would cut the risk of her cancer coming back.
Charlotte Watson (pictured), now five, from Brighton in East Sussex, experienced symptoms of fatigue in July 2020 and soon after began suffering from toe pain and loss of appetite. Mum Angela West, 41, took Charlotte to see a doctor in September but claimed medics told her it was just growing pains after checking her vitals
Charlotte began suffering from more symptoms — including back pain — last November and was taken to A&E where an ultrasound and biopsy eventually confirmed she had stage four high risk neuroblastoma. Some 100 children in the UK are diagnosed with the rare cancer every year, which develops from nerve cells left behind from a baby's development in the womb, and is most common in youngsters under the age of five
Ms West (centre), who is also mum to eight-year-old Polly (right) as well as Charlotte (left), said: 'When we initially found out it was a tumour, I could feel the ground falling from beneath me. The treatment started right away which is a gruelling protocol that adults couldn't even deal with'
Charlotte began suffering from more symptoms — including back pain — last November, just months after she was initially taken to the doctor.
Ms West took her to A&E after her daughter 'woke up screaming in pain', where medics decided to take an ultrasound and biopsy.
Results later showed she had stage four neuroblastoma, which develops from nerve cells left behind from a baby's development in the womb.
Some 100 children in the UK and 800 youngsters in the US are diagnosed with the rare cancer every year, which
