‘Our son has cancer but GPs said it was anxiety’
THE parents of a schoolboy who was diagnosed with cancer of the brain and spine claim doctors initially dismissed his symptoms as nothing more than “anxiety”.
Corey-Jay Coles needed several trips to his GP and the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) after complaining of terrible headaches and sickness.
But his mother, Lisa Coles, claims GPs in the Rhondda, where they used to live, and Tremorfa in Cardiff failed to identify the seriousness of his condition and sent him home without any major concerns.
It was only during a routine trip to Boots, where an optician noticed swelling to Corey-Jay’s optic nerve, that his parents were alerted to the potential severity of their son’s ill-health.
Following a second trip to UHW, where MRI scans were carried out, doctors spotted a tumour in his brain, which has now been almost entirely removed, and two in his spine.
Corey-Jay, who turned eight on Sunday, was then diagnosed with the aggressive childhood cancer medulloblastoma and will now require six weeks of radiotherapy.
“I feel very angry at the GPs who continually said there was nothing seriously wrong with him,” said mum Lisa, who lived in Gelli, Rhondda, before moving to Tremorfa.
“He was being bullied at his old school and the doctors just put his sickness and headaches down to anxiety.
“I suffer with anxiety and they claimed I was rubbing off on him, but I just had that instinct that something wasn’t right.
“Telling my son that he had cancer was the most difficult conversation I’ve ever had.”
After going under the knife to have the tumour removed from his brain, Corey-Jay was unable to walk, swallow, see properly, use his left hand or arm or talk properly.
“He loves the computer game Fortnite, but he couldn’t play for quite a while because he couldn’t hold the controller or see properly. So I’d use it and he’d tell me what to do,” Lisa added.
“I have got every confidence that through physiotherapy and hard work all his speech and movement is going to come back eventually.
“He’s currently using a wheelchair, walking in short spaces and just being a warrior, forever trying.”
Lisa said it was heartbreaking to see her son, now a pupil at Adamsdown Primary School in Cardiff, explain he had cancer to his younger cousin.
“He’s got the biggest fear of needles, so having his Hickman line put in was horrible. He can’t even look at it,” added Lisa.
“But I saw him the other day, talking to his four-year-old cousin, telling him about cancer. He’s so brave.”
Lisa, 32, and husband Robert Coles are now aiming to raise greater awareness among parents of the signs and symptoms of childhood brain tumours.
“If I hadn’t persisted I could have lost him,” added mum of three Lisa.
“I urge any mum or dad not to doubt themselves and push to get their child a scan if their child has vomiting or headaches for longer than three weeks.”
A joint statement from Cardiff and Vale UHB and Cwm Taf UHB stated: “Symptoms of a brain tumour vary from child to child and can also depend on where they are located in the brain.
“If the family wish to talk through any of their concerns we would ask them to contact our concerns team.”
A fundraising page has now been set up to give the family a trip to Disneyland when Corey-Jay’s condition is more stable.
■ To donate go to www.justgiving. com/crowdfunding/corey-jay-thewarrior