Toddler’s Cancer Discovered After Doctors Mistook Symptoms for Constipation
A one-year-old in Stourbridge was finally diagnosed with neuroblastoma after multiple GP visits dismissed her swollen abdomen as constipation.
Florence Wilde, a toddler from Stourbridge, West Midlands, experienced a swollen abdomen and chronic tiredness that her GP attributed to constipation on at least six occasions, leading to repeated laxative prescriptions. When the tumor continued to enlarge, her mother, Anna Chattaway, insisted on blood work, which flagged abnormal results and prompted a referral to a specialist unit. In November 2024, doctors identified a 30-centimetre neuroblastoma, weighing two kilograms, and performed surgery at Birmingham Children’s Hospital on 26 November, removing up to 95 percent of the mass.
She then endured three months of induction chemotherapy, later discovered metastatic spread to her spine, and received high-dose chemo and five cycles of immunotherapy. The family is now raising $136,362 to fund DFMO, an anti-relapse therapy withdrawn from NHS provision, to safeguard against future disease recurrence.
Why it matters
The case highlights risks of misdiagnosing serious pediatric cancers as benign conditions, stressing the need for thorough evaluation.
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