Girl, 11, misdiagnosed 30 times over three years before the real, and ... trends now
An 11-year-old girl misdiagnosed with sickness bugs and migraines was assessed by medics about 30 times before being told she had a brain tumour.
Tia Gordon ended up being admitted to hospital as an emergency despite previous trips to GPs, A&E and calls to NHS 111.
Her mother, Imogen Darby, a pharmacy dispenser, said Tia also had her glasses prescription changed four times before the tumour was spotted.
Ms Darby had sought help over a three-year period regarding Tia’s migraines and vomiting, before being told the wait for an MRI scan would be at least eight months.
It was only when Tia’s condition started to affect her balance and ability to walk that she was given an emergency scan. It showed she had a 3.5cm brain tumour.
Tia Gordon, 11, ended up being admitted to hospital as an emergency despite previous trips to GPs, A&E and calls to NHS 111
Ms Darby, from Northampton, said: ‘I was told Tia had stomach bugs and migraines. The first thing I was told, because it was the summer, was that she just needed to drink more water.
‘After probably a year, she got diagnosed with migraines and they gave her paracetamol for that.
‘She was also given another medication for that and her final diagnosis in January this year from paediatrics was migraine with sickness.
‘Over more than three years, I took Tia to doctors, she was refused MRIs, she was refused to be seen by emergency paediatrics, I called 111, I went to A&E, she had her glasses changed four times, she was given medication and she had a consultant, but it took for her to be unable to walk for her to get the care she needed.’
Ms Darby first noticed Tia’s symptoms during the Covid lockdown in March 2020 when Tia started being sick.
It was only when Tia’s condition started to affect her balance and ability to walk that she was given an emergency scan
Tia migraines and vomiting, for three years before being told the wait for an MRI scan would be at least eight months
She was sick every few months, then monthly, then more frequently.
In the few months before the diagnosis, Ms Darby said she took Tia to a GP about 10 times and called NHS 111 about three times.
‘I took her to A&E and I was told she had a stomach bug and told kind of just leave her to it,’ she said.
However, Tia then developed new symptoms, including a stiff neck, which doctors claimed was due to the way she was sleeping and referred her to a physiotherapist.
Deep down, though, Ms Darby felt something was wrong with the way Tia was holding her neck. It was also noticed by wider family.
A scan showed she had a 3.5cm brain tumour. It was a pilocytic astrocytoma – the most common type of childhood brain tumour
Her mother, Imogen Darby, a pharmacy dispenser (pictured left) said Tia also had her
