Concerned parents who weren’t assured by doctors who claimed their toddler’s clinginess was due to a virus – twice – turned to Google and a disturbing search result led them to insist on further tests until that confirmed their daughter had cancer.
It all started in July when 3-year-old Beatriz, the daughter of Tiago and Laura Farmer-Maia, suddenly became clingy and unhappy. At first, they thought it was just a phase but despite several visits to doctors over several months where doctors diagnosed Beatriz with a virus, the parents started suspecting something more serious was wrong.
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This led them to Google Beatriz’s symptoms and found a disturbing search result that suggested that neuroblastoma might be the cause. This is an aggressive form of childhood cancer with a 40-percent long-term survival rate.
Tiago convinced the GP to run more tests but blood tests returned negative results. The worried parents went to the hospital where a junior doctor also insisted that Beatriz had a virus. But they refused to leave until a specialist could see their daughter.
Doctors finally discovered a lump just above her kidney and a neuroblastoma diagnosis was confirmed in September.
Despite the mistakes, the parents don’t blame the doctors but they are hoping to raise awareness about how hard it is to identify cancers in children.
Laura, an advertising executive, said: “Before she was diagnosed, Beatriz was quite naughty but when she reached two, she suddenly became clingy and picky with her food and had a fever all the time.
“We took her to the GP who believed it was a virus and after recurrent visits, they gave her some antibiotics to cover for a potential bacterial cause, which didn’t have any effect.
“Beatriz started to complain that her legs hurt so we took her to A&E, where they did some more tests and still said it might be a virus.
“It’s hard to get a diagnosis right when a child is too young to explain how they’re feeling, but in the back of our minds, we knew it was something bad.
“We want to spread awareness of the difficulty of diagnosing cancer in young children – if your child doesn’t seem right, you should push for further tests.”
Tiago, who is originally from Portugal, added: “I went back to the GP and pushed our doctor for more tests, which showed something was wrong and the GP sent us urgently to hospital.
“At the hospital, they twice said it was likely to be a virus and I refused to leave until I saw a specialist.
“I waited for three hours until a more senior doctor was free, and then Beatriz was examined by different specialists who admitted her to do all kinds of tests and observations including X-rays and ultrasounds – it was the last one that confirmed there was a lump.
“When my fears from Google turned out to be true, it was very strange because even though my life had just flipped upside down, I was almost relieved to be right – it was weird and confusing.”
Beatriz was sent to Great Ormond Street Hospital where a battery of tests, including blood tests, scans, and biopsies, were carried out. Just a week after the diagnosis, doctors put Beatriz on chemotherapy.
After eight grueling chemotherapy sessions over 18 months, doctors performed a stem cell transplant to regenerate the bone marrow that was destroyed by the chemotherapy. Beatriz had to stay in the hospital for 8 weeks afterward.
Tiago, a design director, said: “I was quite scared when Beatriz was diagnosed because my mom and dad had only recently died from cancer – I thought of the worst.
“Everything moved so quickly and we all felt frightened as they carried out the tests.
“Doctors found that the cancer had spread across her body, so she began chemotherapy just weeks after being diagnosed.
“We were told the treatment would last 18 months which was a massive shock to us.
“A week after Beatriz started chemotherapy she massively improved, but it was tricky being in hospital at first.
“Now, she still has periods of discomfort but sometimes she’s happy to be in the hospital because she has toys and people to come and play with her.”
Laura added: “The stem cell transplant was a hard time for us all because we had to spend a lot of time apart from our other daughter, Clara, six.
“Beatriz was diagnosed in Clara’s first week of school and it was difficult because that was supposed to be an exciting time for her.”
Despite the aggressive treatment, doctors found more metastatic growths in the toddler’s head. She is currently undergoing immunotherapy will be starting a six-month medical trial, called the Beacon Trial, at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Despite the high relapse rates, Laura and Tiago are determined to keep up the fight and are trying to raise money to help them get through this. Should Beatriz get the all-clear, the money will go towards getting a special vaccine in New York that should help keep the disease at bay.
Laura said: “After the stem cell transplant, the end was almost in sight but then she relapsed.
“We’re afraid that the cancer will get worse and worse and want to raise money to help get her into remission – the ideal outcome is that the trial works and clears the disease.
“Luckily, compared to other two-year-olds, Beatriz has suffered fewer side effects with treatment and despite losing her curly hair she’s powering through.”
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