Ontario 4-year-old diagnosed with brain tumour after doctors believed it was a virus
An Ontario mother and father say their four-year-old was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour after doctors believed his symptoms were a flu-like virus for months.
Gladys Mears and Scott Gillespie said their son, Landon, “loves life.”
"He dances and he sings and he's just so funny," said Mears. But now she and his dad are at Landon's bedside as he fights for his life.
In June their second youngest of six children started getting really sick.
"He would vomit first thing in the morning sometimes, or randomly throughout the day, but he would get sick and then be fine after," explained Mears, "seemed kind of like a flu or like a viral thing."
They took him for countless tests and to see doctors, but everything kept coming back normal. Then, a couple months ago he started getting unsteady on his feet.
"He can barely walk," said Gillespie describing a visit to see his mom, "(Landon's) like 'my legs are broken.' And that was the day we brought him in."
Their family is from Bowmanville but travelled to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children to get Landon checked. Mears told CTV News that again a doctor believed everything was normal. They were getting ready to leave the hospital when a nurse saw the four-year-old walking. She told them to stay put and he had an MRI done, which found a large tumour was growing on his brain.
"She saved his life," said Gillespie, "they said that if he didn't come in, it was so bad that (at some point) if he fell asleep he wouldn't have woken up."
Landon was immediately taken for surgery where 98 per cent of the tumour was removed and Mears says his son is now fighting stage three cancer.
"It felt like a nightmare," said Mears, "no parent should struggle for so long to figure out what's wrong with their child for such horrible news."
The parents wanted to come forward to share their story so people with similar symptoms are aware.
Dr. Donna Johnston is the chief of hematology and oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). She says most of the time vomiting in children is some sort of bug but persistent early morning vomiting and headaches over days and weeks are symptoms of brain tumours.
"The pressure builds up inside and that's worsened when you're lying down all night so that's why you can have vomiting and headaches first thing in the morning," she told CTV News Toronto in an interview.
But there are other symptoms as well such as balance issues and it can impact nerves.
"The most common one you see is with the eye where the eye is sort of deviating and not looking normal," explained Johnston.
Landon is still recovering from surgery but his doctors want him to have proton radiation next.
"It's a chemo resistant tumour so what they have is targeted radiation directly to the area where the tumour is," said Mears.
That type of radiation is not available in Canada yet, so Landon will have to travel to the U.S. to get it.
Dr. Johnston said at CHEO they send anywhere from five to 10 patients each year to have proton radiation and it's covered by OHIP.
"We're really fortunate that OHIP covers the cost of having all the therapy there," she said, "obviously it's a challenge for a family because they're not at home, they have to go to the U.S."
But she said proton radiation is coming to Canada.
"It's approved and it's going to Toronto that's where it's going to be," said Dr. Johnston, "it will be within the next few years."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.