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
'Still so much love between us,' Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
What to know about avian influenza in dairy cows and the risk to humans
Why is H5N1, or bird flu, a concern, how does it spread, and is there a vaccine? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about avian influenza.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
opinion The special relationship between King Charles and the Princess of Wales
Royal commentator Afua Hagan writes that when King Charles recently admitted Catherine to the Order of the Companions of Honour, it not only made history, but it reinforced the strong bond between the King and his beloved daughter-in-law.
Pro-plastic lobbyist presence at UN talks is 'troubling,' say advocates
Environmentalist groups are sounding the alarm about a steep increase in the number of pro-plastic lobbyists at the UN pollution talks taking place this week.
'Too young to have breast cancer': Rates among young Canadian women rising
Breast cancer rates are rising in Canada among women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, according to research by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
$70M Lotto Max winners kept prize a secret from family for 2 months
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Trump's lawyers grill ex-tabloid publisher as 1st week of hush money trial testimony nears a close
After prosecutors' lead witness painted a tawdry portrait of “catch-and-kill” tabloid schemes, defence lawyers in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday sought to dig into an account of the former publisher of the National Enquirer and his efforts to protect Trump from negative stories during the 2016 election.