A MUM has warned other parents after a lump spotted while changing her daughter’s nappy turned out to be a rare tumour.
But the “protruding lump” on 18-month-old Willow Dodd was dismissed as just a cyst by doctors in Northumberland.
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Karla Heathcote, 33, told Chronicle Live that she noticed the odd lump after giving her toddler a bath, while putting on her nappy in Alnwick.
She said: “It was only small, but different enough for me to notice that something had changed.
“She didn’t appear in any discomfort, but I was keen to get it checked over by a doctor.”
The mum was initially told to just keep an eye on the lump.
Despite it gradually “growing and turning blue, Willow wasn’t bothered by it”.
But Karla was becoming increasingly uneasy, so the mum returned to the doctor, and her tot was referred to a specialist.
Although the lump on the girl’s genitals was diagnosed as a cyst, and antibiotics given, Karla instinctively something wasn’t right, particularly as Willow was suffering more colds than normal.
Months later there was a sudden breakthrough when she was finally correctly diagnosed with stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma.
This is a rare type of soft tissue sarcoma, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Sarcomas are cancers that develop from cells in the supporting or connective tissues of the body, such as muscle, fat, nerves, blood vessels, bone and cartilage.
She didn’t appear in any discomfort, but I was keen to get it checked over by a doctor.
Karla Heathcote
Unfortunately, by the time she had been diagnosed the cancer had spread to her pelvic lymph nodes.
There were also signs of cancer in the toddler’s stomach and chest.
Karla, who also has three sons with partner Graeme Dodd, described the revelation as “shocking and devastating”.
Willow was admitted to Newcastle ’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where she had lifesaving surgery to remove the pelvic lymph nodes, along with intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The Chronicle writes that “tragically due to the urgent need to start treatment there was no time to help save her fertility, so she will no longer be able to bear her own children when she’s older”.
But Karla said saving her daughter’s life was a priority at the time.
Willow has recently turned three, and is in remission after completing her treatment in December 2020.
WILLOW ‘INCREDIBLE’
A relieved Karla said that seeing her daughter – who has recently started nursery – “and her long luscious locks now, you’d never know what that little girl has been through. She really is incredible”.
The family has spoken out to raise awareness of the rare condition, and to back TK Maxx’s Give Up Clothes for Good campaign.
The retailer is carrying out the campaign in support of Cancer Research UK’s children and young people for childhood cancer awareness month.
The charity said that around 4,400 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK.
Its website states: “Thanks to research, around eight in 10 of those diagnosed today will survive for at least 10 years.
“But survival for some children’s cancers hasn’t improved much since the 1970s.”
The charity’s CEO, Michelle Mitchell, explained the impact of the Covid pandemic and “years of workforce shortages and insufficient infrastructure have meant that cancer targets continue to be missed”.