One year-old diagnosed with rare cancer after doctors misdiagnosed it as constipation

A one-year-old girl was diagnosed with cancer after doctors dismissed her symptoms as constipation.Little Florence Wilde was taken to her GP after her stomach began to swell up and she became repeatedly run down and tired.But parents Anna Chattaway and Dom Wilde, both 32, were told it was just constipation and prescribed laxatives, which left the tot crying in pain.When her belly continued to balloon, Anna took Florence back to the GP only to be assured it was constipation again.Anna says at one point a doctor even told her, “Let’s address the elephant in the room, we don’t think it’s cancer.”Florence was unable to sleep on her own due to being in agony and needed mom Anna to cradle her upright at night to get some rest.It was only when the family pushed for a blood test that she was finally diagnosed with neuroblastoma in November 2024.Florence, now two, has since undergone a grueling operation to remove the 30-centimeter tumor and undergone chemotherapy.The tumor weighed two kilograms, while Florence weighed just 13 kilograms, making up nearly 15 percent of her body weight.Anna, a clinical psychologist from Stourbridge, West Mids., said, “She was diagnosed a month after her first birthday.“There was a period of six weeks beforehand where she was poorly with one thing or another.“She picked up infections, she had hand foot and mouth, she had antibiotics but remained off for a while.“She started to get a swollen tummy and for three weeks we were back and forth to the local GP.“We were told she was constipated at the GP — for three weeks I had to force-feed her laxatives which was horrendous.“When her stomach hadn’t gone down, they gave her more laxatives, but it was getting bigger.“She wasn’t right and the laxatives weren’t helping so we had to keep pushing the doctors.“They struggled to examine her.On one occasion a GP said she’s fine and: ‘Let’s address the elephant in the room, we don’t think it’s cancer.’ Mor...