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
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.