A two-year-old girl from Somerset was flown to the US for emergency brain tumour treatment after being sent home from hospital undiagnosed, despite her mother's pleas for a brain scan.
Lara Willcox was vomiting up to three times a day and could barely lift her head when her parents, Aimee and her husband, took her to the Royal United Hospital in Bath. Mum Aimee, 29, begged doctors to perform a scan, but they refused. Five days later, the family returned as medication had worsened Lara's condition. An MRI was scheduled for August, but by July Lara could not walk and was in severe pain.
In desperation, Aimee took Lara to Bristol Children's Hospital, where a CT scan revealed a cancerous brain tumour and a massive buildup of fluid on her brain, crushing her spinal cord. Surgeons operated three days later, and Lara was flown to the US for proton therapy. Today, she faces a 50% chance of hearing loss in one ear, potential brain damage, and a risk of tumour recurrence.
A hospital investigation found that the RUH 'missed an opportunity' to diagnose the tumour. The family has instructed lawyers Irwin Mitchell to examine the case. An RUH spokesman said they have implemented mandatory training on brain tumour symptoms and a quicker referral system for scans, following the incident in 2016.
