A mum has told of her horror after doctors mistakenly diagnosed her son as constipated when he had a brain abcess.
Amie Tweed initially thought son Teddy had a stomach bug when he fell unwell in March this year.
But when he started projectile vomiting, sleeping after waking up from a night of ten hours kip and refusing food, the 25-year-old sought medical help.
But she claims she was no clearer after several trips to the GP and A&E, where it was suggested it could be 'constipation' - leaving the mum baffled, considering the symptoms.
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Doctors eventually said it was a 'viral infection', gave him antibiotics and advised that he just needed to rest.
But on March 19, Teddy took a turn for the worse as he started having seizures and became unresponsive.
In the hospital, Amie discovered Teddy had a brain abscess that was a third of the size of his brain and given the heart-breaking news that he may not survive.
Happily, the operation to drain it was a success and Teddy is now doing well.
The mum learnt that what appeared to be an 'ingrown hair' on Teddy's nose since birth was actually an additional tract to his brain, and bacteria travelling through it caused his abscess.
After being through 'hell and back', Teddy, who Amie described as a 'little fighter' is recovering well and is due to have further surgery to remove the tract in June.
Now she is keen to raise awareness of the symptoms of brain abscesses and urges other parents to push for answers if they feel that the medical professional's advice is wrong.
Amie, of Maldon, Essex, said: "We want to raise awareness because it's rare that this has happened, but it can happen, and I don't think that anyone thinks of a brain abscess as being a cause of their child being unwell.
"But obviously hospitals need to have better procedures in place because it wasn't taken seriously at all and I think rare conditions need to be looked for and not just the common ones.
"I think that people need to make sure that if they know that their child isn't right and if the medical professionals ever say 'we think it's this, they'll get better' or 'we're not entirely sure of the cause but we think they're improving', you can't just accept their word for it.
"You need to know what's wrong with your child.
"If I hadn't had been the mum that I am and not given up and kept trying, then I don't think he'd be alive.
"So I take quite a comfort in that - knowing that I didn't give in and got him where he needed to be."
The mum-of-one described her son as a 'little sweetheart' who's outgoing and has a lust for life.
Amie said: "He started not being his usual bubbly self about two weeks before everything started to turn south.
"He was just not interested in playing with his toys as he used to be and just a little bit more cranky and I couldn't really settle him as well.
"That sort of escalated to the next stage where he started uncontrollably projectile vomiting out-of-the-blue and he'd never done that before.
"He was very off his food - he didn't really want to drink or eat anything.
"All he wanted to do was sleep. He'd wake up from a night of 10 or 11 hours sleep and would want to go straight back to sleep, which is just very abnormal."
Thinking he may initially have a stomach bug Amie gave him a couple of days to recover but when he didn't the concerned mum rang 111 and was told to visit a GP.
Teddy was checked over and advised that if his unexplained sickness continues for another 24 hours to take him to A&E for a blood test.
The next day, Amie took Teddy to A&E, but claims they refused to do a one given he wasn't showing 'any other symptoms', like a fever or sore throat.
Amie said: "They asked if anything in his diet had changed and I mentioned his formula milk had been swapped to a different brand because they had a recall, and they said they thought it was probably something dietary.
"He said 'it could be constipation, he just needs to get some rest' and I asked if it was normal for that to make them this poorly and apparently it can.
"So I'm just taking the doctor's word for it but I only left it for a day and the next morning I was on the phone to the GP anyway.
"I said to the GP 'this still isn't right, I don't believe that this is constipation'.
"I couldn't understand how constipation can make you violently sick but I suppose I don't know I'm not a doctor, all I have is my trust in them."
Amie said the GP checked for signs of obvious infections and couldn't identify anything but based on the sequence of events, referred her to a pediatric ward.
After a blood test it was believed that Teddy had a 'viral infection' and he was put on IV antibiotics.
Amie claims she pushed on numerous occasions for them to identify exactly what was wrong with Teddy but was advised that his symptoms were normal for a viral infection.
Because his infection rate had gone down, he was then given oral antibiotics and discharged.
But two days later [19 March] Teddy awoke from 14 hours of sleep and his symptoms worsened.
Amie said: "I said to my husband 'I don't think this is right' and at first his initial thought was 'we'll just put him to sleep, that's what the doctors have told us to do'.
"I just had something in my gut that was like 'this isn't right'.
"I put Teddy on the floor in a sitting position and he was just laid on the floor completely lifeless. He's never done that before and just fallen asleep on the floor.
"We called an ambulance because we knew that going to A&E wasn't going to achieve anything from what has happened before.
"My partner was holding him and he started to have seizures. I was saying his name like 'Teddy, Teddy, it's mummy' and shaking him but he wasn't responding.
"At this point I was an absolute mess. I called 999 again and said that he's got worse and wasn't responsive and the ambulance was here within five to ten minutes."
Amie said the paramedics noticed that one of his pupils was dilated, indicating there was pressure on his brain.
Teddy was taken to hospital and after a CT scan they were told he had a large brain tumour and was sent immediately to hospital.
She later discovered that during the journey Teddy was coning, meaning his brain was being forced through a small opening at the base of the skull where it meets the spinal cord.
Amie said: "One of the surgeons pulled me into the room and said 'we're going to do what we can to help him but I can't guarantee everything. We'll try out best'.
"We got a call within 40 minutes [of surgery] and they said that he was going to be ok.
"I think that was just the best call that I've ever had.
"They said that he had an abscess in his brain and they've drained it and they need to monitor his recovery, but because of the pressure on his brain they didn't know if there was going to be any lasting damage.
"We were obviously over the moon. We'd gone to hell and back but he was going to be ok.
"That was the main thing for us. But in the back of your mind I thought - is he going to be able to talk? And use his arms and legs?
"We just didn't know what repercussions were going to come from it.
"The abscess was about a third of the size of his brain. It was huge."
The abscess was around 100ml and Teddy had another operation to drain it again on the 24th March and has since been recovering well.
Amie said: "Since Teddy's been born he's had a tiny little hair on the bridge of his nose and sometimes it looks a little bit red.
"I thought it must have been an ingrown hair and went to the doctors and they said to just leave it alone and it will come out on its own.
"It turns out when Teddy was born he had an additional tract, so any time he's touched something that's dirty and then touched his nose that bacteria has had a route to go straight to his brain.
"It's been a rollercoaster. But he's doing so so well.
"His recovery has shocked the doctors how quickly he was back to his normal self and he hasn't really had any lasting damage from this, it's maybe pushed him back a couple of weeks in his development but we can deal with that.
"He's a little fighter."
