Tienermeisje is volgens dokters ‘gewoon in de rouw’, maar sterft aan zelfde ziekte die haar vader het leven kostte
Een Schots tienermeisje is overleden aan dezelfde ziekte die eerder haar vader het leven gekost. Nochtans dachten de dokters dat ze gewoon aan het rouwen was om de dood van haar vader. De artsen zouden zware medische fouten gemaakt hebben.
De 15-jarige Alana Finlayson stierf 19 maanden nadat haar vader was gestorven aan dezelfde ziekte: een agressieve vorm van hersenkanker (glioblastoma). Toch werd de diagnose pas 8 weken voor haar dood gesteld. De artsen zouden haar niet serieus genomen hebben en keer op keer een foute diagnose hebben gesteld. Haar moeder, Linda Jones uit Toryglen, Glasgow vertelt nu haar verhaal in The Daily Mirror, op vraag van haar betreurde dochter. “Vertel alsjeblieft mijn verhaal zodat dit niemand anders kan overkomen.”
Zware fouten
Volgens moeder Linda luisterden de dokters van het Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children totaal niet naar wat zij en Alana zeiden, en leed dat waarschijnlijk tot haar vroege dood. Het tienermeisje werd zo eerst verteld dat ze gewoon leed aan groeipijnen. De artsen zouden de klachten hebben afgedaan als aandachtzoekerij en simpelweg als psychosomatische gevolgen van de dood van haar vader. Ze zouden hen ook verzekerd hebben dat het niet om dezelfde ziekte als haar vader ging. Een paar maanden na de eerste fysieke ongemakken kreeg Alana echter last van pijn aan de heup. Op de spoed namen ze x-rays van de heup, maar die gaven geen vreemde dingen aan. Na een tweede bezoek aan het ziekenhuis – een dag later, dat Alana de hele nacht had gekermd van de pijn – zeiden ze dat haar broek misschien te strak zat en suggereerden ze ook dat ze zich misschien niet goed in haar vel voelde. Een jaar later bleek dat Alana al die tijd kampte met een tumor op de heup – tumoren zijn niet te zien op x-rays.
Lichaam vol tumoren
Niet enkel op haar heup bleek een tumor te groeien, haar hele lichaam zat er vol van. De tumoren op haar ruggengraat waren helemaal vergroeid met haar zenuwen en konden daarom niet helemaal verwijderd worden. Ook in haar schedel werden tumoren gevonden. Dat al die tumoren pas een jaar later werden ontdekt, is te weiten aan nóg een foute diagnose, die van druk op het brein zonder een opspoorbare oorzaak. Zelfs met de ziekte van de vader in het achterhoofd werd door de dokters vergeten dat die onopspoorbare oorzaak een gezwel in het brein kan zijn. Na een behandeling vol mislukkingen en fouten – zo werd een biopt genomen van het brein, maar werd dit niet herhaald toen het resultaat onduidelijk bleek – werd uiteindelijk een MRI genomen om de stent die in haar hoofd zat om de druk te verlagen, te kunnen verplaatsen naar haar rug. Pas toen werd duidelijk dat het meisje dezelfde agressieve vorm van kanker had, hoewel de artsen enkele maanden eerder haar nog opnieuw hadden verzekerd dat “dit in niets op de ziekte van haar vader leek”. Door de intussen vergevorderde staat van de kanker kwam alle hulp voor Alana te laat. Na een pijnlijk proces van 1 jaar van foute behandelingen en 19 maanden na haar vaders dood, stierf ook zij aan de gevolgen van de ziekte.
Twee Britse politici riepen al op om te onderzoeken wat er fout ging in het behandelingsproces en betuigden hun spijt voor Alana’s tragische lot.
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www.mirror.co.uk Febr. 10, 2020
Girl dies from cancer that killed dad after ‘doctors said symptoms were grief’
Alana Finlayson, 15, told mum Linda Jones before she died ‘please tell my story so this can never happen to anyone else’ with her mother now recounting the harrowing story
ByVivienne Aitken
08:09, 10 FEB 2020UPDATED08:20, 10 FEB 2020
Alana Finlayson – who died aged 15 from glioblastoma just 19 months after her dad, Paul (Image: Daily Record)
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A schoolgirl died from the same disease that killed her father – after doctors said her symptoms were ‘grief’.
Alana Finlayson, 15, told mum Linda Jones before she died from glioblastoma: “Please tell my story so this can never happen to anyone else.”
The disease is the most aggressive from of cancer that manifests in the brain.
Now Linda, 51, is telling her little girl’s harrowing story and criticising doctors at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children.
She said: “She was in their care for a year and they let her down. It ripped my heart out.
“We were dismissed time and time again.
“Some of the doctors were so arrogant. If they had just listened to what we were saying, I may still have had Alana with me but they left a wee lassie in excruciating pain and with no treatment.”
When Alana was finally diagnosed, the youngster had just eight weeks to say goodbye to her family and friends before glioblastoma – which had robbed her of dad Paul Finlayson just 19 months before – killed her.
The pain she complained about was at first dismissed as growing pains, attention seeking and grief.
Medics even told her she did not have the same illness as her dad.
Alana Finlayson who died aged 15 from glioblastoma with her mum Linda Jones, brother Calum and dad Paul (Image: Daily Record)
Linda, of Toryglen, Glasgow, said: “I don’t know if I missed symptoms in Alana because I was so wrapped up in Paul’s illness but I don’t think so.
“However, three weeks after Paul died Alana’s behaviour started to change.
“I thought it was the grief because she was a good girl. But she started having mood swings and hated everybody.”
She had also been complaining about pains in her legs but her GP dismissed them as growing pains.
But in February 2018, Linda got a call from Alana’s school, Kings Park Secondary, to say she had pain in her hip. Linda took her to A & E but the X-rays didn’t show anything.
Linda said: “Cancerous tumours don’t show up on X-rays. Alana was greetin’ all night. I took her back up the next day.”
This time, a doctor suggested her jeans were too tight and asked Alana if she felt safe at home.
Linda said: “I came home in absolute pieces.”
Teen Alana Finlayson kissing her dad when he was in hospice (Image: DailyRecord/ WS)
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A second opinion doctor told Linda Alana’s pain was real but that there was no reason for it.
Linda said: “Alana was begging them for help. She was offered a grief counsellor.
“All they heard was she has just lost her daddy. By March she was losing weight and couldn’t see properly. She had head pain, neck pain and severe nausea. She had gone from a size 10 to a size six in a month.
“I was banging my head off a brick wall. Eventually, I took her to the opticians and they discovered she had inflammation around her optic nerves.”
They sent her to hospital and she had a CT scan, an MRI scan and a lumbar puncture that revealed she had idiopathic intracranial hypertension – brain pressure without a detectable cause. It can, however, be caused by a brain tumour.
A shunt was put in her head to relieve the pressure but it would build up, causing extreme leg pain. Each time, it was only after Linda’s insistence that Alana was given a lumbar puncture to remove fluid.
The shunt was moved from one side of Alana’s head to another but pressure still built up. Brain scans showed lesions in her white and grey matter and she had a biopsy on her brain. It was inconclusive but it wasn’t repeated.
In November, Linda asked if Alana had cancer but was told: “No, definitely not.”
Linda said: “By this time, they had called in rheumatology and neurosurgery. They didn’t know what was causing it but told her, ‘This is nothing like what your dad had’. She was so relieved.”
In February 2019, Alana’s severe leg pain returned and doctors decided to move the shunt from her head to her spine.
Schoolgirl Alana Finlayson in hospital (Image: DailyRecord/ WS)
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Before they could do so, they took an MRI scan and found she was riddled with cancer – a year after she first attended hospital.
Linda said: “She had a spinal tumour. Most of her vertebrae were black holes.
“The tumour was wrapped round her nerves and there were other tumours, including one in her hip bone – the original source of her pain a year before. If they had done an MRI at the start, they could have saved her.
“She had tumours in her skull, the brain lesions were the same cancer her dad had but, even with her dad’s history, they never consulted oncology.”
She underwent an operation but they were unable to remove all the spinal tumour.
On March 7, the biopsy results confirmed it was glioblastoma.
Linda said: “Alana sat with her head in her hands repeating over and over, ‘I am going to die, I am going to die. I am dying and there is nothing they can do’.”
The family knew Alana would not live to see her 16th birthday in August so they held a party for her in April, a month before she died.
Alana Finlayson who died aged 15 from glioblastoma (Image: Daily Record)
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Her last days were in the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow. Linda was with her at the end telling her, “You are locked in my heart forever”.
Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “This is every family’s worst nightmare, that a very young girl with her life ahead of her, who knew something was wrong, was failed at every stage.
“Our clinicians work incredibly hard to keep people safe but no one is infallible. I would hope the Health Secretary would ask for a full inquiry into this death so no other family will suffer this way.”
Anas Sarwar, Labour MSP for Glasgow, said: “There was a catalogue of missed opportunities to save Alana, which must be investigated so lessons can be learned.”
Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon added: “An investigation must get under way to provide answers and ensure this can never happen again.”
A Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board spokesman said: “This was a tragic and highly unusual situation. Despite being extensively reviewed by a team of UK-wide multidisciplinary experts, due to the rarity of the condition, specialists were unable to diagnose Alana’s glioblastoma until 2019.
“We would be very keen to meet with Alana’s family to answer any questions they might have regarding this case and can confirm someone will be in touch.”
Het bericht Alana Finlayson 15 jr stierf door ernstige fouten van artsen Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow verscheen eerst op SIN-NL.