Doctors think 8-year-old just has toothache – but when the real cause is detected, it is already too late
Many times, children are not able to articulate their feelings, which means that parents need to be more intuitive to what their…
Many times, children are not able to articulate their feelings, which means that parents need to be more intuitive to what their child needs. These parents did exactly that, yet unfortunately, it was out of their hands.
Continue reading to know their story and what they went through for their child.
Ethan Adams from South Shields, England, was described by his parents as a mischievous little boy with a big heart. One day the young boy woke up and complained to his parents about a toothache.
Ethan’s parents understandably took him to a dentist. The young boy was upset at the toothache. His mother, Tracey, said that he “became upset” because he thought it was his fault as he had not brushed his teeth.
At the dentist, they concluded Ethan had some swelling in his teeth, probably caused by a tooth infection. But the swelling did not go down, in realtity it began to grow.
When nothing seemed to work, and the young boy’s swelling grew worse and worse, his parents rushed their upset child to a hospital. It was there they learned the devastating news; he had tumors on denhis brain and spine.
What was thought to be a tooth infection turned out to be Rhabdomyosarcoma – a rare form of canc3r. The canc3r is so rare that it only affects about 55 children in the UK every year.
The first warning signs of the diagnosis are swelling or lumps that can appear to grow on the body.
“Our world fell apart,” Ethan’s father, Mark said in an interview.
Ethan’s cancer was found to have spread to his lungs and his bone marrow. Doctors decided to start an aggressive treatment plan involving radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
But after nine months of being in treatment, Ethan passed away aged 9.
After he passed away, his parents were incredibly upset and called the treatment methods that had been used for his son as “embarrassing” and outdated. The grieving parents started a fundraiser in Ethan’s name to help fund research.
Ethan’s cancer was found to have spread to his lungs and his bone marrow. Doctors decided to start an aggressive treatment plan involving radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Ethan’s father, described the treatment methods as “embarrassing” and said they are extremely outdated. They set a goal of $62,000, out of which about half has already been achieved.
“We don’t want other families to have to go through what we’ve had to go through, it’s terrible,” Ethan’s family says.
After Ethan’s passing, the issue of financing research on childhood cancer has come up in the parliament as well, which is a major step towards making sure more funds are appropriated to areas like this.
