Mother diagnoses toddler's brain tumour on internet after GP dismisses symptoms

By Andy Dolan for the Daily Mail
Updated: 13:38 EST, 8 February 2010

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When little Bella Flint fell ill, a GP ruled the child was probably just attention seeking after becoming unsettled by the arrival of a baby sister.

Luckily, the four-year-old's mother was not so quick to dismiss her symptoms and set about diagnosing Bella herself, with the aid of the internet.

Carly Hornbuckle yesterday described how a mother's intuition told her Bella's sickness was down to more than the normal childhood bugs or an extreme bout of sibling rivalry - and ended up saving the child's life.

Diagnosis: Carly Hornbuckle and partner Jordan Flint with daughters Bella, left, and Imogen

After typing Bella's symptoms of weight loss, vomiting upon waking and listlessness into the internet search engine Google, Miss Hornbuckle was alarmed to discover they pointed to a brain tumour.

Armed with the research, the 25-year-old visited a different GP who agreed to refer Bella for tests. Hospital doctors decided to carry out a scan to 'rule out' the concerned mother's worst fears, only to discover the child had a brain tumour the size of a golf ball.

Surgeons removed it during an eight-hour operation and Bella is undergoing chemotherapy for the rest of the year to ensure the cancer is completely gone.

The mother-of-two, from Markfield, near Leicester, said: 'I knew there was something seriously wrong, you know your own children.

'I thought the GP’s suggestion that Bella was unsettled by the birth of her sister, Imogen, was possible, but I wasn't convinced.

'I knew it was something more and began searching the internet for answers. Her symptoms just seemed to fit.'

Miss Hornbuckle and partner Jordan Flint, Bella's father, first became concerned on holiday in France last summer when the child began vomiting in the mornings.

'Bella was losing weight and as soon as we got back we took her straight to the doctors where we were told it couldn't be anything serious as she was too well in herself', Miss Hornbuckle added.

'Blood tests were carried out, which led to a suggestion Bella may have a food intolerance, but tests for this also came back clear.'

By October, Bella was vomiting once or twice a day, and nearly always as soon as she woke. She also complained of her head hurting, so her parents took her back to their local doctors' surgery, where the GP maintained nothing could be wrong.

Miss Hornbuckle said: 'I told them I thought she could have a brain tumour. The doctors said she didn't have the correct symptoms and that she would be much more poorly than this.

'Then we saw a different doctor and I told him of my concerns and that something needed to be done. Luckily, he agreed.' Bella was referred to specialists at Leicester Royal Infirmary, where the tumour was found.

The condition she was suffering from, medulloblastoma, affects just 80 children nationwide each year. A medulloblastoma is a fast-growing, life-threatening malignant tumour which can spread to elsewhere in the brain and spinal cord if left untreated.

Bella underwent successful surgery at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, followed by six weeks of radiotherapy.

Miss Hornbuckle said that although the cancer had not spread, the radiotherapy treatment has affected her daughter's spinal development, meaning she is unlikely to grow to more than 4ft in height.

It could also lead to some degree of learning difficulty, hearing loss and kidney damage.

Mr Flint, 28, a civil engineer, said the couple were 'so proud' of their 'brave' daughter. They have set up a charity, Tinkerbella’s Wishes, to help provide for her future care, and fund medical research into children’s brain tumours.

Professor Richard Grundy, the country's only professor of paediatric neurological oncology, at Queen's Medical Centre, said: 'Bella has been very fortunate.

'She came to us relatively early, the surgery went extremely well and we were able to get on with her treatment. The earlier it begins, the better.

'I'd welcome any fund-raising for research into brain tumours. We need to understand more about why tumours occur.'