Molly’s story
On the evening of Saturday, 4th October 2008, Molly’s parents noticed that she had a slight droopiness on one side of her face. 5 minutes later, it had gone but when she smiled they could see that there was a slight difference.
Monday, 6th October Molly’s mum took her to their GP who referred them straight to Childrens’ Assessment Centre K&C where they saw two doctors who diagnosed possible Bells Palsy (an inflammed facial nerve) or a viral infection. They were told to return in a week’s time for a check up. As the week passed Molly started getting headaches and vomiting and an eye test also revealed nothing untoward. Her parents contacted the hospital who said it was all to do with the viral infection she had. After 2 days of vomiting, her parents, who were not happy with initial diagnosis, took her to an out of hours GP service where, again, the doctor said she had viral infection.
Finally, a week later, Molly’s check-up appointment came and Molly and her parents saw another doctor. This was the fourth doctor in a week to see Molly and finally agreed that Molly needed a brain scan. The results came back that day, Molly had three tumours on her brain. The family were transferred to QEQM Hospital, Margate that night as there were no beds in London. They waited a week for that bed but, in the meantime, were given some hope. Doctors in London has seen her brain scan and said the tumours were benign and that Molly was NOT an urgent case.
“We used to get told by other people/parents that she was very special and had something about her. She was very brave right up till the end”
Tuesday, 21st saw Molly transferred to Evelina Childrens’ Hospital, London. On seeing Molly, they arranged her to have a full body scan. This scan revealed that the three tumours on her brain had trebled in size and had spread to her spine. She was fighting for her life. Molly was then sent to Peadiatric Intensive Care Unit at Kings College Hospital where she continued to deteriorate. She had an operation to perform a biopsy on one of the spinal tumours.
Monday, 27th October was Molly’s big brother, Colby’s, 8th birthday. She had another brain scan after she became more ill and the results came back that evening; the steroids that they have given her to stop the tumours growing were working, they had not grown anymore. Unfortunately, the next day Molly failed to respond to the doctors tests. She died peacefully in her parents’ and Colby’s arms on Tuesday, 28th October. The biopsy results came back two days after she died; she’d had Atypical Teratoid Rhaboid Tumour (ATRT).
Molly was a very lively 4 year old. Always on the go and everything had to be at 100mph. She adored her brother Colby and bossed him around as if she was the older sibling. She had two sides to her personality: a girly girl who loved dressing up as a princess and liked putting on makeup – she liked to dance around the house pretending to a member of Girls Aloud always putting on shows; the other a tomboy – she liked football and wrestling and being outside with the boys mucking in. She was a real all rounder, very popular and bright. We used to get told by other people/parents that she was very special and had something about her. She was very brave right up till the end.
Molly was a very lively 4 year old. Always on the go and everything had to be at 100mph. She adored her brother Colby and bossed him around as if she was the older sibling.