In the first few months of life, newborns can face a number of health challenges. From tummy troubles to colic, rashes, allergies, and more, pinpointing the cause of distress is important — but doctors don’t always get it right the first time. Tragically, a 6-month-old baby died after a brain tumor was mistaken for a milk allergy and teething.
Louie Moss of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, U.K., was born on October 18, 2021. By 4 months old, he failed to gain weight and was vomiting frequently while doctors struggled to explain his symptoms. Louie sadly died two months later from a brain tumor.
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Doctors misdiagnosed Louie's symptoms as common conditions.
At first, doctors chalked up Louie’s symptoms to a possible dairy allergy, according to his parents Robert and Molly per the Daily Mail. The parents switched their son to a milk alternative and gave him a prescribed antibiotic, but the infant’s condition worsened. Reportedly, doctors said, “They’d never seen anything like it,” speculating he might be teething or had a cold.
Eventually, testing revealed the brain tumor.
A lumbar puncture showed that Louie had a high white blood cell count. Then, a CT scan revealed a brain tumor, The Mirror reported. After suffering cardiac arrest, the infant underwent emergency surgery to drain fluid from his brain. A second surgery removed more than 80 percent of the tumor. However, the tumor regrew to its original size two weeks later.
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His parents made an impossible decision — and their baby died from his brain tumor weeks later.
Doctors told Robert and Molly that Louie “only had weeks to live.”
“We were given the option to try chemotherapy but were advised that ultimately, Louie’s diagnosis was terminal,” Robert explained, per the Daily Mail.
He added, “We felt putting a baby through chemo and seeing how relentless his tumour was we were fighting a losing battle. It’s a decision you never expect to have to make as a parent and it was a deeply traumatic experience.”
Louie died in April 2022.
Now, Loue's dad is running the London Marathon to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.
Nearly three years after Louie’s death, Robert is preparing to run the London Marathon. He is raising money for Brain Tumour Research in the process.
“It’s go big or go home with this challenge. I wanted to do something that was a proper challenge for me, a proper way to honour Louie’s life,” he explained. “My reason for running is so that when a patient is diagnosed in the future, they have are given every opportunity to attain a positive outcome.”
Brain tumors kill more children than leukemia.
Carol Robertson, the national events manager for Brain Tumour Research, offered insight into brain tumors in children.
“Brain tumours kill more children than leukaemia and there are more than 100 different types of brain tumour, making them notoriously difficult to find effective treatments for,” she explained, per The Mirror. “We’re determined to change that but it’s only by working together we will be able to improve treatment options for patients and, ultimately, a cure.”
