County Derry mum hopes to spread awareness after two-year-old diagnosed with rare cancer

A mother from Castledawson has opened up about her young child’s struggle after receiving a cancer diagnosis. 

Jayne Patton’s little girl Myla was recently diagnosed with a form of bone cancer, known as Ewing's Sarcoma, earlier this month. The two year-old now faces gruelling months of treatment. 

Myla’s mum Jayne spoke to the County Derry Post explaining how their nightmare began when the young child started complaining of a pain in her right leg. 

“Myla initially began complaining about pain in her right leg, we took it with a pinch of salt, we just thought she is a toddler, it’s maybe growing pains. When the pain progressed we took her straight to the doctor. They said maybe it was an irritable hip from a previous viral infection and that it would clear itself up in a few weeks. The longer it went on the pain got worse and worse for Myla, it progressed to her left leg. We were back and forward to A&E. We really had to keep fighting for answers. She had blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds done. She was even admitted to hospital three times while getting palmed off,” she said.

“Finally we encountered a lovely junior doctor in Antrim Hospital who suggested Myla needed an MRI as soon as possible. It took around six to eight weeks for Myla to receive an MRI scan to figure out what was wrong. Eventually our doctor worked with The Royal to fast track the MRI but unfortunately their machine broke down the day before she was meant to get her scan. That left us waiting another week and a half to wait for the scan in Antrim. At this stage Myla’s leg pain was so bad that her legs were coming out from under her, she had absolutely no power, screaming in the middle of the night in pain. Things kept going from bad to worse. On April 2 we went to Antrim for the MRI. They put her to sleep for it and told us it would be around 45 minutes and over two hours later she still wasn’t out. That’s when the doctor came down to my husband Robin and I and broke the news. He explained how they had found a mass on the base of Myla’s spine. He told us how it was more than likely cancer and how we would be moved to The Royal in Belfast straight away. We went straight there and didn’t leave for a week and a half. 

“During that time in The Royal, Myla was on lots of drips with four different kinds of pain relief. The week after she had a biopsy done and we got the results back to say the cells were cancerous but they weren’t sure what type at that stage. So after further testing they discovered it was Ewing's Sarcoma. They said it was rare to get cancer like this so young. Doctors explained to us that it is more common in teenage boys and Myla’s tumor was in a strange place. It is not often that the mass is found on the very base of the spine.” 

Jayne shared how Myla is now home from hospital and currently waiting on treatment. 

“She is still very sore and on about 18 doses of pain relief a day. Within the next few weeks Myla will be going to hospital to get central lines including a feeding tube into her stomach. Then chemotherapy will start. Doctors have explained that it will be 18 weeks of intensive treatment. There will then be possibly radiotherapy and surgery to remove the tumor which would be another six weeks but they will try intensive chemotherapy to begin with. They said it will be no sooner than Christmas before this is all sorted. Afterwards she will need a lot of physiotherapy to help her walk again as she is in a lot of pain.” 

Myla's aunt Tyree has started an online fundraiser to help the family through the difficult time ahead. 

Jayne explained how the fundraiser will go towards keeping the family afloat during this difficult time and anything left over will go to charities. 

“We have been dealing with a number of charities including The Children's Cancer unit in The Royal Hospital Belfast, Angel Wishes, Sarcoma UK, and Little Heroes. Whatever money isn’t used will be split between these charities,” she continued.

“We hope the fundraising gets the awareness out there to people about this disease. If you are a family that is being palmed off by doctors, keep fighting. If we had just sat back and accepted what they were telling us at the start, I don’t know where we would’ve ended up. Trust your gut and keep fighting if you feel something is wrong. It shouldn’t have to be that way to be heard but it is.

“All I can do is thank the people that did listen to us. Everybody in The Royal and Antrim Hospital have been amazing. We can’t fault them. The team is incredible. They are truly angels for the work they do.”

To date £37,045 has been raised since the fundraiser went live a few days ago. 

If you wish to donate to the fundraiser for Myla and her family you can do so here: bit.ly/42LTUJ1