THE PARENTS of a four-year-old girl who thought she just had a cold revealed how their life soon became like a “horror movie”.
Amy and Rob Owen’s little girl, Isabellah, first appeared unwell in the lead up to August 2021.
Amy, 29, from Hartlepool, told Teesside Live: "It started with what we thought was a bit of a cold.
“Then it was strange that she started snoring and then she started to get really bad breath, I thought 'what's going on here'?"
At worst, Amy thought her daughter had hay fever, and her GP said it could be polyps.
But when things got progressively worse, Isabellah's parents took her to hospital.
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Concerned doctors ran tests and gave the shocking news that Isabellah had a rare and cancerous tumour in her throat.
It was located in her nasopharynx, part of the tube behind the nose connecting to the throat.
In the UK, about 260 people are diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer each year.
Because it is so rare, there aren’t reliable survival statistics. But the disease is treatable.
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The symptoms include a lump in the neck, hearing loss, nosebleeds, headaches, swallowing problems and a hoarse voice.
Most people with the cancer won't recognise the symptoms until it's at a later stage.
Amy said Isabellah’s tumour was “through her nose and dangling down the back of her throat”.
"There was something hanging out of her nose, but still it never crossed my mind it was cancer, it's not the first thing you think of in a young child,” she said.
"At one point she coughed up half the tumour. It was like something out of a horror movie."
Isabellah had to be fitted with a breathing tube because the tumour was restricting her breathing.
Because it was obstructing her throat, she also had sleep apnoea – a common sleep disorder of which snoring is a symptom.
Isabellah was started on chemotherapy and radiotherapy immediately, but the tumour was not able to be surgically removed.
Her treatment consisted of painful lasering of her tumour while under sedation for two weeks.
She also had to travel to Manchester for proton beam therapy.
Amy said: “She has shocked everyone with what a superhero she has been. She has been amazing.”
Amy said the family had been through “living hell”, and the trips to hospital – 40 miles each way – has cost a fortune.
“It's been emotionally, physically and financially horrendous,” Amy, who is due to have a baby in October, said.
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Isabellah’s treatment is due to end soon because doctors say there is no sign of remaining cancer.
The family are looking forward to making up for lost time, and have set up a fundraiser to pay for fun activities. You can donate here.
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