Young boy’s ‘blocked nose’ was tumour
A MUM has described how she felt her heart had ‘broken into pieces’ when she discovered her son’s blocked nose was, in fact, a brain tumour.
Just three weeks after Lucca Larkin’s 10th birthday in August, his parents’ ‘world came crashing down’ as a scan revealed a brain tumour after his sinus headaches wouldn’t go away.
The little boy from Radcliffe, Bury, was then blue-lighted to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where doctors operated to remove most of the tumour at the back of his head.
A pathology test then revealed the tumour was medulloblastoma - the most common malignant brain tumour in children.
The brave schoolboy is now on the waiting list for a form of radiotherapy at the Christie Hospital in Manchester to remove part of the tumour that was too risky to take out surgically.
But mum Shellie, 40, is now speaking out to warn other parents to ‘trust their instincts’ if they know something isn’t right.
She said: “People use the term heartbroken but upon hearing the news I felt like my heart had broken into pieces. It was like a physical pain deep inside.
“I felt scared - terrified in fact. And later I felt an intense anger that this horrible disease even exists.
“As a parent it’s the worst feeling, you feel like you’ve died inside when your child has that kind of disease.”
Shellie, a part-time social media manager at a cyclewear company, said Lucca started getting intermittent headaches in August.
After ruling out problems with his glasses and his Playstation, she took him to their family doctor who diagnosed blocked sinuses and advised anti-allergy tablets and Calpol.
But Shellie’s instincts kicked in as it dawned on her that it might not just be a blocked nose.
She and Simon took Lucca to A&E and, the next day, a consultant arranged an immediate CT scan.
A few hours later Shellie and Simon were told the heartbreaking news their son had a brain tumour.
Now the family are waiting to hear if Lucca will need to have proton beam therapy in Germany, where they could be for more than six weeks.
Lucca, who loves playing football and watching rugby, has a tight bond with his siblings Rhiannon, 21, Antonia, 16, Reuben, 15 and Roman, 8.
Shellie said: “We always thought Lucca was the softest. But he was so strong. He hasn’t complained once or moaned about his situation.”
A webpage has already raised more than £5,400 at www.gofundme.com/f/ luccas-fight-against-medulloblastoma