Baby girl who had a silent brain tumour was 'hours from death' after bungling doctors dismissed her swollen head as 'normal' 

• A baby girl was left hours from death due to an undiagnosed brain tumour
• Molly Mai Wardle-Hampton, from Wales, suffered seizures and swollen head
• But her mother says doctors dismissed symptoms as 'normal baby stuff' 

A three-month-old girl was left hours from death after bungling doctors missed her brain tumour and dismissed her seizures and swollen head as 'normal'.

Molly Mai Wardle-Hampton was born on November 7 in Rhyl, North Wales, healthy and weighing 7lbs. But she began suffering seizures from three-weeks-old. 

Her worried mother, Corinne Wardle, 37, took her daughter to a series of medical appointments over the following weeks but claims she was told Molly Mai's issues were 'normal baby stuff'.

Ms Wardle rushed Molly Mai to A&E last month due to her worsening symptoms and was immediately referred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where doctors discovered a tumour in her brain.

Doctors said that a build-up of fluid was putting pressure on Molly Mai's brain and eyes and she would die within 24 hours if they did not operate on her immediately, Ms Wardle claimed.

Molly Mai underwent a gruelling three-hour operation to remove the tumour, which had spread to three-quarters of her brain.

Doctors have since confirmed her tumour is ependymoma — a rare cancer affecting the brain and spine. Less than 50 children in the UK and around 200 in the US develop the condition every year.

Molly Mai has since returned home but is receiving chemotherapy twice a week for the next year in a bid to kill off the remaining tumour and stop it spreading.

Ms Wardle said Molly Mai had three seizures around the time she was three-weeks-old, each of which lasted around a minute long. 

She took Molly Mai to a GP appointment and was referred to a paediatrician in Wrexham.

Before that appointment took place, Molly Mai was seen by a GP for a regular six-week check up. Despite Molly Mai's head measurements being larger than normal, Ms Wardle said the GP was not concerned. 

But over the following weeks, Ms Wardle noticed Molly Mai could only look to her right, had a large head, was vomiting and unsettled. 

At the subsequent paediatrician appointment, Ms Wardle said the doctor dismissed Molly Mai's seizures and swollen head as 'normal baby stuff'.

Just before Christmas, Molly Mai was rushed to the Countess of Chester Hospital A&E, where Ms Wardle works, with a viral infection. 

Ms Wardle said: 'I explained everything about Molly Mai's seizures and swollen head but doctors tend to deal with what is in front of them and treated the viral infection and nothing more.'  

Over the following weeks, Molly Mai's symptoms continued to worsen. 

Her eyes were going in opposite directions and her head size 'had now gone off the chart', her mother said.

On February 1, Ms Wardle rushed Molly Mai to the A&E department at the Countess of Chester Hospital for a second time.

Medics there conducted a CT scan and spotted a large tumour, which was pushing on her eye nerves.

Molly Mai was then rushed in an ambulance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital for further scans.

The following day, doctors conducted a three-hour operation to remove the tumour.

Ms Wardle said: 'The surgeon at Alder Hey was very clear that she wouldn't have survived 24 hours without surgery, it was that close.

'I think in that moment I just went numb, I don't think I've processed it properly yet, we're still in shock.

'You just never expect that it's going to happen to you.' 

Symptoms of ependymoma, which has a five-year survival rate of around 60 per cent, include vomiting, seizures and an increased head circumference. 

Molly Mai has since returned home but is undergoing twice-weekly rounds of chemotherapy in a bid to kill off the remaining tumour and stop it spreading. 

Ms Wardle said: 'We were quite lucky she is a baby because the skull is not fused, so the skull could expand with the fluid.

'If she had been an adult, she would have ended up with severe brain damage or it probably would have killed her.

'The tumour covered three different parts of the brain. It covered a hefty part of the right hemisphere.

'My partner keeps saying to me now, "if you hadn't kept pushing, she'd be dead by now", which is so scary.'

The mother-of-three said: 'It was very frustrating because I knew something wasn't right but I kept being told by the doctors that it was normal baby stuff. It was missed by many of them.' 

'She's only 14 weeks now and we've got a whole year of chemotherapy to come.

'She's obviously going to get really poorly and because she's a baby and I can't explain why this is happening.

'The likelihood is she is going to end up with ulcers, she's going to end up in a lot of pain and lethargic.

'She can't tell me that her tummy hurts, or that her skins itchy and feeling horrible. She's going to be in absolute agony.'

A fundraising page set up to support the family has raised more than £1,600.