A 19-year-old who went to the doctor with back pain tragically died just a few weeks later, after he was diagnosed with a rare cancer. Teenager Carl Scott was given the heartbreaking news that the aggressive cancer had spread to 'every part of his body', apart from his brain.
Carl's mum Claire Abraham, has paid tribute to her 'loving and caring boy' after spending the first Christmas without her son. Carl from North Shields, found a painful lump on his back and went to seek medical attention, Chronicle Live reported.
It was discovered Carl had a rare form of sarcoma called Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, which is a soft tissue cancer. He died just three weeks after his diagnosis.
Claire, 37, said: "Carl went into hospital for back problems so to be told that he had cancer was a big shock. He was really upset, he didn't have time to process it really. It was breaking his heart.
"Everything happened so fast and I didn't have time to register anything. It's still feels like a daze, it doesn't seem real. The last few months have been really hard."
Carl grew up with his mam Claire, his younger brother Cory, 16, Claire's partner Angela Henderson, 41, and her three children Tracey, 21, Bailey, eight, and Carter, three.
Claire said: "He was quite a character, he used to have you laughing all the time. He was also loving and caring. He was an outdoor kid. He always wanted to be out and about with his friends. He was always outdoors playing with his best friend Dean."
Claire said Carl started to suffer from back pain last summer. She said he looked thin and had developed a lump in the middle of his back. Doctors initially thought that Carl had testicular cancer, before later diagnosing him with sarcoma.
She said: "Everything was such a blur and we didn't have time to take much in. I have never ever heard of sarcoma before. I came home and Googled it and realised how bas it was. Claire was absolutely devastated."
Carl passed away at the hospital on September 4 last year. Claire added: "He has quite a few friends going to the hospital and the nurses at the Freeman were amazing. I wanted to be there with him so I slept at the hospital. I held his hand and he passed away.
"It's been really hard without him. Christmas was the hardest because Carl normally stopped at my house on Christmas Eve. His best friend would usually come around on Christmas morning and I would get a picture of them. Carter always talks about Carl and says 'He's in the sky' and 'Carl's in heaven'."
According to the NHS, soft tissue sarcomas can develop in almost any part of the body, including the legs, arms and tummy (abdomen). They often have no obvious symptoms in the early stages and can cause symptoms as they get bigger or spread.
The symptoms depend on where the cancer develops. The NHS urges anyone with a lump, particularly one that gets bigger over time, to see their GP.
