Mum Sophie Potter, 24, from Hinckley in Leicestershire, first spotted two-year-old daughter Florence’s tummy had a hard spot back in mid-August – but said medics first suggested it was probably just constipation.
Two-year-old Florence is undergoing cancer treatment after a tumor was found in her belly.
A brave toddler is undergoing cancer treatment after what doctors thought was constipation turned out to be a fast-growing tumor in her belly.
Mum Sophie Potter (24), Hinckley, Leicestershire, noticed Florence, her two-year-old daughter, with a painful tummy in mid-August. Doctors initially suggested that it was constipation.
Tests later showed that the lump appeared to be a cancerous tumor in her daughter’s stomach, Leicestershire Live reports.
Florence and Sophie were together at Leicester Royal Infirmary over the past four weeks. Florence has been receiving chemotherapy as well as various tests to determine the extent of cancer.
Sophie said: “Doctors and my friends all said it was probably constipation, but it didn’t seem to get better, so we were advised to go to the pediatric A&E department at Leicester Royal Infirmary.
“Over just ten days, the tumor grew from about 12cm to about 17cm – I could feel it growing in her tummy.
“I want other parents to know that this can happen – it’s such fast-growing cancer. It’s terrifying.”
Leicester Mercury / Chris Gordon)She said she struggled to cope when the doctors first told her they thought her daughter had cancer.
She said: “When they told me, I just broke down crying. I couldn’t take it in, so I asked the consultant to talk to my mum about it – I couldn’t talk.
“Florence is petrified. She has been hiding in her hospital bed, refusing to be seen.
“It’s changed our lives completely – she had a nursery, her music classes, and swimming and had been about to start dance classes.
“We were always out and about going to the park to feed ducks and other things.
“But we’ve been isolated in award for the past four weeks. We got to go home for just one night during that time.
“She’s been having lots of tests – they still don’t know for sure what the tumor is attached to and where it’s growing from.
“She’s about to start her second course of chemo, and the chemo will continue for at least eight months. They will hopefully be able to remove the tumor with surgery or lasers.
“It’s already shrunk a bit. But even if it goes, it will always be a worry that one day it will come back again.”
Sophie stated that Florence enjoyed swimming and taking baths, but she would not be able to do so during chemotherapy. She has a Hickman line running through her chest for the drugs.
Sophie has set up a GoFundMe page to raise £5,000 to buy Florence a water-tight drysuit so she can enjoy water again.