Mum demands more funding into research
Call comes after son’s untimely death
AN Airdrie mum is campaigning for more brain tumour research funding following her four-year-old son’s death after doctors dismissed his symptoms.
Nadia Majid, 44, is working with the charity Brain Tumour Research after her son Rayhan died from a brain tumour in April 2018, only four months after being diagnosed.
Rayhan, a huge fan of sports and Transformers, started to get bad headaches and sickness in October 2017.
Nadia said: “I just knew something wasn’t right, so I took him to the doctors, but they were not very helpful. They would tickle and play with him, and he would laugh and giggle.
“Rayhan would pass the neurological tests with flying colours, and the doctors said he was absolutely fine. But Rayhan kept getting sick and his headaches were also increasing. Over the course of six weeks, I took him to see four different GPs on six separate occasions.”
In December, Nadia’s husband, Sarfraz, took Rayhan to the A&E at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where an MRI scan revealed a three by four-centimetre mass in the brain.
Nadia, a business analyst, said: “We were so desperate and worried they would not take us seriously that Sarfraz exaggerated his symptoms.
“Thankfully the medical staff there agreed that it was not normal for a four-year-old to be having headaches for this period of time.”
A few days later, Rayhan underwent a 10-hour operation but surgeons were unable to remove the whole tumour, later revealed to be a grade-three medulloblastoma, requiring six weeks of radiotherapy and four months of chemotherapy.
Rayhan also developed hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid around the brain, and cerebellar mutism, leaving him unable to speak or walk.
A pre-radiotherapy MRI scan later revealed the original tumour had grown back, along with two new tumours in his brain.
Nadia, also mum to Eliza, four, and Zakaria, 12, said: “In the few weeks prior to the scan, Rayhan’s original symptoms had reappeared and, despite us repeatedly asking if the tumour could have returned, the doctors had assured us this was not possible in such a short space of time.
“When the results of the MRI came in, the doctors were shocked to see the tumour had returned, but we were shocked that so many medical professionals were not able to see this.”
Rayhan was slowly becoming paralysed, started walking with a stoop, and couldn’t bear weight on his legs, and he was losing use of his arms and fingers.
His health continued to deteriorate, and he died on April 7.
Nadia and her family are now being supported by local MP Anum Qaisar-Javed who has questioned the prime minister about how research and funding into childhood cancers can be improved on the family’s behalf.
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet, Brain Tumour Research said, but historically just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.
Hugh Adams, head of stakeholder relations for the charity, said: “More must be done to develop treatments and improve outcomes for patients like Rayhan.
“We desperately need to increase investment in research into brain tumours, as this is how we will find more effective treatments for brain tumour patients and, ultimately, a cure.”