A mother who thought her ten-year-old daughter was just being “clumsy” was devastated to discover a cancerous tumour was growing in her brain.
Jackie Nelson, 35, said she wasn’t overly worried about daughter Ava until she started complaining of headaches and feeling constantly sick and dizzy.
She took her to a GP, who dismissed her illness as a viral infection that would soon go away, she said.
After three subsequent visits, Ava was finally referred to the children’s assessment ward at Cross House Hospital near Kilmarnock, Scotland.
An MRI scan showed a tumour and she was diagnosed with high grade glioblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord.
Jackie, a carer, from Kilwinning, Scotland, said: “It seemed she was just being clumsy at home, until she started to complain about feeling sick and dizzy all the time.
“Something in my heart knew she wasn’t right, and if I’d have listened to the doctors at the start Ava wouldn’t still be with us.”
Following her diagnosis, Ava was taken straight to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow in an ambulance and booked in for brain surgery the very next morning.
Surgeons raced against time to relieve the pressure which was building as a result of the tumour before it damaged her brain.
The operation went well, and she was immediately referred for her first rounds of chemo and daily radiotherapy.
She has been staying at Marion House, free accommodation run by charity Young Lives vs Cancer, opposite the hospital for the past seven weeks, with her mother.
Ava’s radiotherapy will conclude on August 5, when doctors will review her progress – and Jackie is praying it will be good news.
Mother-of-three Jackie said: “The last two months have been a whirlwind and Ava has been so brave through it all.
“She’s having daily radio therapy and taking chemo tablets to try and shrink the tumour.
“We should find out how her radiotherapy has affected the tumour in the next month and we’re all praying it will be good news.
“Ava is the most loving, positive girl and an amazing daughter and I couldn’t be prouder of her.”
