Harrison Thompson was given a shocking diagnosis after doctors initially put his symptoms down to a common ailment experienced by many children — but the truth revealed something much more sinister
A 13-year-old boy was diagnosed with a rare aggressive cancer in six parts of his body – after bungling doctors dismissed his symptoms as “growing pains”.
Harrison Thompson began suffering from severe aches and pains in his back last December, which he initially thought was due to a rugby injury. The sports-mad teenager had been hurt by a tackle during PE at school just a week previously and assumed it was related to that.
But when the pain got worse his mum Lindzey, 34, and dad Mitchell, 36, took him to the GP where they were told it was probably caused by a muscular issue. He was later admitted to A&E at at Leicester Royal Infirmary where doctors then believed the problem could be related to growing pains.
Harrison’s pain continued to spread to his spine and knees and became so agonising he was unable to eat, sleep, walk or go to school.
His mother Lindzey pushed for further tests and the family were told on March 18 Harrison had multiple tumours – in his spine, spleen, stomach, liver, lung and kidneys. The teenager has since undergone four gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and two rounds of radiotherapy, which has so far failed, on the whole, to shrink the tumours.
The family are now trying to raise money to fund potentially life-saving treatment abroad which is not currently available on the NHS.
Mum-of-three Lindzey, of Leicester, said: “It started when Harrison had a rugby accident at school where he was knocked down.
“He said it went black for a bit but he was ok and within about ten minutes he went a bit sick and dizzy. We got him checked out and he had a concussion, he had quite a significant headache. But then a week later he said his back was really hurting, ever since the rugby incident.
“The GP thought it was muscular and told us to continue with the paracetamol. It was getting worse and he couldn’t sleep at night, so we took him to A&E. They thought it was a urine infection and also said it might be growing pains.
“They let us take him home and it just got worse, he was getting a lot of pain in his knee and lower back and couldn’t play football or rugby anymore. The pain got gradually worse to the point he wasn’t able to eat, sleep, sit down, go to school. We knew something wasn’t right and this was four months in.
“We went back and forth to the GP and A&E and said ‘what’s going on?’ They sent us for an MRI but lo and behold they said it was a three month waiting list.
“I couldn’t go to work because he was in that much pain. He couldn’t manage and was screaming out in pain. We took him again on March 16, I pleaded with the doctors, saying he needs to be helped. They decided to do x-rays over all of his back and an MRI.
“On March 18 they took us to a private room and told us that he had a lot of tumours throughout his body.”
Harrison was diagnosed with an undifferentiated high grade Epithelioid malignancy of uncertain histogenesis.
The family has since lodged a complaint with University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust to investigate if medics could have acted sooner.
Lindzey, who works as a care home manager, said: “I raised concerns to the Trust due to the length of time it took to diagnose him and how many times he was turned away. If it wasn’t for me pleading for further investigation, they would have continued to dismiss it.”
Harrison was then taken to a cancer ward at Nottingham’s Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre to begin treatment.
Lindzey added: “They thought it was germ cell cancer at first which has a high curability rate. Harrison did start to improve, he was eating and drinking, he had gained weight and went back to school for four hours a day.
“They started him on germ cell treatment initially. It held his tumours, stopping the growth. He was put on VD/CIE treatment but it batters every single cell in your body, it was really painful for him.
“He got rescanned and saw nothing had changed or that there were slight growths in the kidney or the stomach. He was admitted into hospital last Thursday (14/8) and the scan results did show the tumour on the spine had come back bigger than ever.
“They’ve gone to say they’ll go through radiotherapy again. He finished five days of radiotherapy on August 21, now we’re looking at second opinions. They’re on about stopping the treatment as they don’t believe the chemotherapy is working.
“We’re looking at Germany, USA or Japan for alternative treatments. The fundraising was for some secondary options, but we didn’t realise how fast it’d have to be.
“We also want the money to go towards the ward that helped Harrison and cancer charities. The generosity has been amazing so far, it’s really restored my faith in humanity.”
Gang Xu, deputy medical director at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said: “We take any concerns about care incredibly seriously. Our Patient Advice and Liaison Service is currently investigating and responding to the family, and will work to address any questions they may have.”
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