An eight-year-old girl, from Westbrook in Kent, was sent home from A&E with antibiotics and was told there was nothing to worry about but just days later, she was diagnosed with rare cancer.

Aurora Pile-Gray felt severe pain in her chin in April and even found a lump the size of a golf ball on her neck.

Her 27-year-old mother Keisha said: “She was constantly telling us she was in pain. Her chin was sore, the bottom of her lip was sore and all of her teeth were beginning to hurt.”

“On April 21, as we sat watching TV, Aurora told me she’d found a lump on her neck.”

When Keisha took Aurora to a GP, she was sent back home with antibiotics and they were told there’s nothing to worry about.

However, her health deteriorated as she would sleep about 20 hours a day and would complain about the pain when she was awake.

The lump also had doubled in size and one more lump appeared behind her ear.

Aurora was then sent to A&E but she was again given antibiotics and was told it was a viral infection.

Aurora’s condition became worse day by day and finally, Keisha insisted to admit her daughter to the hospital.

She said: “She quickly spiralled downhill from there and in 72 hours we went from being told it was a high possibility of a viral infection, to being blue-lighted by ambulance to a specialist hospital in London.”

Aurora’s right eye stopped working, she became anemic, and her kidneys stopped functioning properly.

Finally, she was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Leukaemia, a rare form of cancer affecting the blood and bone marrow.

Keisha said: “In under 48 hours Aurora had gone from having a suspected viral infection to being tested for leukaemia and had to undergo a bone marrow aspiration, lymph node biopsy and lumbar puncture to collect spinal fluid and inject her first dose of chemotherapy directly into her spinal fluid.”

Aurora now needs at least six months of treatment at a specialist London hospital. She might also need dialysis as her kidneys have stopped working properly.

Keisha is devastated after her daughter’s diagnosis as she will have to spend at least six months in London without her two other young babies.

She said: “My heart is breaking, but not for myself. I’m sad for everyone else. I’m sad for Aurora who keeps telling me she wishes she never got poorly.”

“I’m sad for my two young babies who aren’t going to see their mum for weeks at a time, but guilty for missing them.”

A fundraising page has been set up to help the family which has already received £12,000 in just two days.

Keisha is grateful for the support and is hopeful her daughter will fight like a warrior and will soon be cancer-free.

 

 

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