William Morgan
A young girl who died with a rare form of brain cancer had her initial symptoms dismissed after they were blamed on spending too much time playing Roblox on the family iPad.
10-year-old Myla Lilly Broadey-Meears had been suffering from painful headaches and dizziness which increasingly made her life difficult, but her health condition was blamed on eye-strain at first.
A visit to the opticians revealed that something much worse was going on inside Myla's brain, leading to the schoolgirl being diagnosed with an aggressive diffuse midline glioma. It would tragically claim her life in January of this year.
The youngster had begun suffering from symptoms relating to the brain cancer just six months before, while on a family vacation in North Yorkshire, England, where she started to experience headaches, a loss of her balance, and sickness.
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Her 29-year-old mom Chantelle Broadey, as many parents of Gen Alpha kids would, that she had been spending too long staring at her tablet, and booked her in to see the optician thinking that she might just need glasses.
However, the truth was utterly devastating. Young Myla had developed a tumor in her brain that was about three inches in size, causing her neurological symptoms.
Despite being rushed to the local children's hospital to remove as much of the mass as possible and undergoing 30 rounds of difficult radiotherapy treatment, Myla would die from the acute brain cancer on January 15.
Tragically, due to the nature of diffuse midline gliomas, by the time it was detected, Myla's tumorous growth was Stage 4, meaning that it was malignant and spreading quickly.
But now her mom Chantelle is trying to raise awareness about the concerning symptoms her daughter experienced in the months before her diagnosis and death, in the hopes that other parents will spot the tell-tale warning signs of a brain tumor before it becomes deadly.
Chantelle has paid a moving tribute to her 'incredibly brave' and 'beautiful little girl', whose favorite artist was Ella Henderson, and loved cheerleading and going camping, as well as mum-and-daughter shopping trips.
Recalling the instant things started to fall apart, she said: "Myla had been fine just a month before we went on a caravan break to Primrose Valley. She had competed in her school sports day.
"But while we were there she started suffering from headaches and was wearing shades all the time. She didn't want to take part in any activities which was really out of character.
"She loved a climbing wall but really struggled on the first step, so we noticed her getting a bit off balance and clumsy. The day after the holiday we went to a Taylor Swift tribute act but she wasn't interested and wanted to come home.
"I wear glasses so we thought maybe that's what she needed and it was down to eye strain or playing Roblox on her iPad or something like that. We thought it could be dehydration too.
"Another symptom was that her face had started to droop on one side, especially when she smiled. We thought she just had a new smile and didn't think much to it but looking back at photos we can now see clearly.
"We took her to the doctors but they just said to keep an eye on things and monitor her - looking back I wonder whether I could have done more but I guess that's parental guilt. After the holiday we booked her in for an eye test the following Thursday and my mum took her along.
"I think they gave her a full MOT and spotted something straight away. They told my mum to call me and Myla's dad and gave us a letter to take to A&E which they told us not to open.
"We went to Grimsby Hospital and a CT scan revealed the tumour - she was blue lighted to Sheffield Hospital that night. Three days later she had an operation to remove 60 per cent of the tumour."
But after undergoing treatment, Myla was not the same happy little girl.
Chantelle added: "Before she was always on the go and couldn't sit still for two minutes but it left her with left-side weakness, so from that surgery she was bed-bound. From that surgery, she didn't come out the same. We've been grieving her since then really.
"She wasn't the chatty little girl that she was, she just stared at the ceiling all the time and wasn't really with it. We had her good days, where she was quite chatty and we did get a few giggles out of her, but it would literally be 10 minutes of a day and then that would be it."
Myla's dad Zak Meears, 30, said: "She never deserved what she got, no child does. She was the most amazing, funniest, beautiful daughter I could ever wish for, and such a loving big sister to her young brothers.
"Her name and smile will never be forgotten, forever in our hearts."