An 11-year-old schoolgirl has been diagnosed with an aggressive childhood cancer after doctors dismissed her symptoms as tonsillitis. Armaie Burrows-Pitt, from Rugby, Warwickshire, had been experiencing extreme tiredness and a loss of appetite while on holiday in Devon in May. GPs reassured her mum Nikki and stepdad Andy it was tonsillitis and prescribed antibiotics, saying she was "perfectly fit and healthy".
Repeated misdiagnosis
When Armaie failed to improve, Nikki rushed her to Warwick Hospital and demanded a blood test. Doctors carried out further tests, believing she could be suffering from sepsis, TB or an infection caught from a family holiday in Egypt in February. But after 15 days in hospital, she was transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital, where doctors eventually diagnosed her with Burkitt lymphoma - a rare form of childhood cancer.
Nikki, a mum-of-two, said: "We went to Devon at the end of May and she had us all worried as we could see she was going downhill. She was tired and didn't want to play much. She would take herself off to the corner of the park."
She added: "That all started at the end of May. Then on May 31 my mum took her to Warwick A&E. She didn't want to talk, walk or eat - she just wanted to lie down."
Frustrating experience
Nikki continued: "She got told it was just a viral infection at Warwick, then I took her to a GP on June 2 and the doctors told me it was tonsillitis. I was told she was perfectly fit and healthy by the GP, but we knew she wasn't as she's such a fit and active young girl who's full of energy usually."
"Then I took her back to Warwick to be told it was tonsillitis again and to finish the antibiotics, but we knew it was something more." Nikki said she knew Armaie wasn't just suffering from a virus as the 11-year-old gymnast was left virtually bed-bound and unable to eat. She thought maybe it could have been a gymnastics injury she suffered when she began to also complain of pain in her shin and groin.
Nikki, who works in admin, added: "We then went back to Warwick on June 10, and I said 'I'm not leaving until you do a blood test'. They did one and admitted her."
Diagnosis and treatment
Armaie spent 15 days at Warwick Hospital, which was being led by Birmingham Children's Hospital as they thought it was something serious before she was moved there. She was eventually diagnosed on July 3 with Stage 4 Burkitt lymphoma, after they thought it was an infection.
Burkitt lymphoma is a rare, fast-growing type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that starts in white blood cells - specifically the B-cells. The aggressive cancer, which primarily affects children, can multiply very quickly before spreading through the body. Armaie is Stage 4 with the disease having spread to her spleen, liver and bone marrow.
Nikki told SWNS: "It was all very traumatising, having your daughter in hospital and not knowing what's wrong with her for all those weeks. It was very frustrating because every single GP I saw kept saying she was fine. She's never seen a doctor in her life and has never been to a hospital, I knew she wasn't right. She had all these symptoms that didn't necessarily relate to lymphoma."
She added: "It's very frustrating to be told she's okay when she's not. She wouldn't get out of bed, she didn't want to walk or eat or drink - it's not normal for a fit and active child to be completely wiped out. Children with symptoms like this probably get dismissed, which is frustrating."
Nikki continued: "You'd think they would assume the worst case scenario first and rule it out, so to be left three or four weeks without a diagnosis was heartbreaking. The first symptom was a neck pain which is why they thought it was meningitis in the hospital. Then she had a pain in her shin, then her groin and I thought it could've been her gymnastics as a couple of weeks before she had an accident. The symptoms would come and go. When they told me it was tonsillitis I did wonder if it was something more sinister."
Fundraising for treatment
Now the family are fundraising to cover costs while Armaie undergoes six months of gruelling chemotherapy. Her auntie, Emma Whyte, added: "The main aim is to take Armaie on lots of trips this year, we've had to cancel a lot of holidays because of this. She wants to go to Disneyworld Florida and Lapland."
"But we also want to give back to Birmingham Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House for all their work," Emma added. "Armaie's stepdad is staying there and her mum is staying there, so it would be nice to give back to them. I think I put £500 as the target but we're nearly on £9,000. In a strange way, it's brought us all together in the worst time imaginable."
The fundraiser for Armaie can be found here.
