A grieving mom is looking for extra analysis after her son’s suspected ear an infection was truly an “aggressive” mind tumour.
In September 2021, Niall Kavanagh, 19, was sick and collapsed throughout a soccer sport.
He was taken to A&E however the early warning indicators had been missed.
His mum Claire stated: “He truly went to see out-of-hours docs at Addenbrooke’s Hospital on two consecutive Saturdays.
"But he was looked over and sent home with a suspected virus or ear infection.”
As his symptoms persisted and worsened over several weeks, Claire made him a GP appointment - but he never made the date.
Alarm bells began ringing when Niall, from Newmarket in Suffolk, forgot he had spoken to Claire, and other family members started to worry too.
One day in the October the family rushed Niall to A&E after he became unable to walk or talk, as his condition had deteriorated rapidly.
“Niall’s brother went over to his house the same day and called to tell me there was something wrong and he was going to put him to bed,” Claire recalled.
"When I acquired there, Niall was acutely aware and sat up gesturing, however he couldn’t communicate.
“In the end, we lifted him into the car and drove him to Addenbrooke’s ourselves. He couldn’t walk or talk and the staff there thought he’d taken something.
“Then there was talk about him having had a seizure because he just wasn’t responding. He was able to move but he couldn’t coordinate anything."
Niall was taken for a scan and doctors revealed the heartbreaking news that there was a lesion on his brain.
Doctors said they had "never seen anything aggressive as Niall's brain tumour" and feared he wouldn’t survive emergency surgery, Claire said.
She added: "It left us with almost no hope. I had to go home and tell Niall’s two younger brothers they needed to say goodbye.”
Niall did get well, and for 3 weeks was in a position to speak, use his telephone and breathe on his personal.
However, after a process to take away a shunt from his head, Niall did not regain consciousness.
Claire stated: “He was returned to the ICU and when I saw him the following morning, he wasn’t responding like he had before.
"He just gradually faded after that. I was told Niall’s brain was swelling and they couldn’t do anything to stop it. Essentially, he was dying."
Niall died three weeks later on November 1, after doctors ran tests to determine brain stem death.
Claire said: "I wanted a miracle but his surgeon agreed that having him back for those three weeks was a miracle in itself.”
Now Claire is working alongside Brain Tumour Research to petition for greater funding for research.
It wants the government to recognise brain tumour research as a critical priority, placing spend on research in line with that of breast, bowel and lung cancer.
To sign and share the petition go to braintumourresearch.org/petition.
Common symptoms of brain tumours include:
If you expertise signs you must communicate to your GP.
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