A mum has revealed her heartbreak over her young son’s death from cancer last year after his sore leg turned out to be caused by a tumour.
Georgia Barber took Bobby into hospital after she noticed him limping, with the 15-month-old dragging himself across the floor. Doctors initially thought he had a fracture so stuck his leg in a plaster cast and sent him home, reports the Manchester Evening News.
While at home, though, the pain continued, so Georgia took him back to A&E and demanded tests were carried out. They were sent to Manchester Children’s Hospital and it was there they got the devastating news that Bobby had a tumour.
They found it in his pelvis. It had grown through his spinal cord and caused nerve damage to his right leg.
When Georgia, from Rochdale in Greater Manchester, heard the word ‘tumour’ leave the doctor’s mouth, the entire hospital room started spinning. Her worst fears were realised.
The tot was started on a chemotherapy course. After several weeks, there was a glimmer of hope as Bobby’s condition had improved drastically.
He was able to stand up by himself, walk using a Zimmer frame and Georgia could finally change his nappy without him being in complete agony. But, in an unimaginably cruel twist of fate, a year after his diagnosis in May 2022, that familiar limp returned.
Subscribe here for the latest news where you live
Doctors said it might have been caused by stents in Bobby’s legs – but Georgia just knew. A scan confirmed Bobby’s tumour had returned.
Though he was immediately given new chemotherapy treatment, he was not getting better. He was in so much pain during the last two months of his life that he had to have an epidural.
Tragically, Bobby died on September 4, 2022. He was just two years old.
“It was absolutely awful,” Georgia said, recalling her son’s last days. “I knew when I was in that hospital room, I had to have positive vibes around me and be positive for Bobby.
“But there was a time I had to go to the bathroom and ask a nurse to stand with him because I knew if he had seen me upset and crying like that, he would have known there was something wrong. I tried to be strong for him.”
Bobby’s cancer, called rhabdomyosarcoma or RMS, is a type of sarcoma cancer that affects the muscles attached to the bone.
Rhabdomyosarcoma tumours occur mostly around the head and neck – this cancer is the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma to occur in childhood, accounting for 53 per cent of cases.
“It was a huge shock,” Georgia continued. “I felt like my whole world stopped turning.
“I was so angry. When someone tells you that, it’s something you hear on the news or on social media and you feel sorry for them.
“You think, ‘Gosh, I’m thankful that’s not my baby’, and when it happens it’s absolutely heartbreaking. It feels like your heart has been ripped out of your chest because you’re absolutely helpless because there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Georgia, 27, can recall the anguish of having to watch her only child suffer in agony for months on end. She went on: “It’s always just been me and Bobby.
“So being a single mum on my own, I had support from my mum and dad. But it was even more terrifying knowing I had to do it on my own, just me and Bobby.
“He was in so much pain, he couldn’t even get out of bed. We stayed in hospital from July to September and Bobby passed away while we were there. We learned [the cancer] had spread to his lungs as well.”
It was later learned Bobby also had a rare genetic condition which can increase the chance of tumours developing.
“No child should have to fight this fight,” Georgia added. “It’s gruelling and painful and as parents we shouldn’t have to see our babies go through this.
“[I am] so proud of Bobby. He fought with strength, bravery, resilience and all the smiles.”
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
