A 14-year-old was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor after doctors dismissed his concerns.
British schoolboy Max Hall had been suffering from persistent headaches for around a year, but healthcare professionals initially put them down to 'teenage migraines'. After visiting the doctor, the teen was sent away with painkillers to alleviate his symptoms.
However, on November 27, just days after his 14th birthday, Max suffered a severe seizure and was rushed to the hospital, where he was placed on life support. He was subsequently diagnosed with a Stage 4 brain tumor that doctors say is untreatable.
Max's mom, Jackie, explained that her son was put on life support for two nights and was taken for an MRI scan, where the severity of teen's concerns came to light.
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"We know that it’s terminal because of the size of the mass on the brain," the 44-year-old mom-of-three explained. "It’s Stage 4 terminal, they say they can’t remove or shrink the growth."
Jackie said that, before the issues arose, Max was fit and healthy, calling him a 'real sporty lad'.
"The only thing he had leading up to this was frequent headaches that turned into migraines," she added. "They were there for over a year and we were just fobbed off with ibuprofen."
In response to the mom's claims, Hemant Nemade, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group Medical Director, said: "Our thoughts are with Max and his family at this unimaginably difficult time.
"We are looking into the circumstances of his care with us to establish what happened in order to learn from this."
Max's tumor can't be operated on due to its location in his brain, and while he has been offered a chemotherapy treatment plan on the NHS, the family is raising money to fund specialized treatment overseas in Germany.
"It can’t get any worse. There’s literally nothing that they can do for him in the UK," Jackie said. "This is Max’s life."
In Germany, Max would be eligible to receive a vaccine that attempts to kill the tumor cells and slow their growth.
"It’s almost a personalized vaccine," Jackie explained. "They take blood from Max, look at the cells, and create a vaccine personalised to Max’s tumor."
Treatment would be frequent, with the family flying out to Germany every couple of weeks.
The family aims to raise £250,000 (approximately $335,000), which will be enough money for a year's worth of treatment. While the German treatment isn't a cure, it may allow Max to live a longer life than standard NHS treatment would.
"We just need him around with us," Jackie said.
Despite the diagnosis, Jackie explained that her son is generally in high spirits.
"Max is taking it so well, it’s so great. He’s tired all the time and he’s losing some of his memory. He can’t remember a conversation two minutes ago, and sometimes his speech is jumbled up," she noted. "But he’s blown me away with how well he’s doing. We don’t want an end date for him, we want to keep fighting."
The family has set up a GoFundMe page for Max's treatment, raising over £113,000 (around $151,000) at the time of writing. Donations can be made here.
Emma Kershaw