{"id":1323,"date":"2025-02-17T10:14:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T10:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2025-02-17T10:14:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T10:14:01","slug":"doctors-kept-saying-my-daughter-was-fine-then-she-died-aged-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/?p=1323","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Doctors kept saying my daughter was fine, then she died aged 14\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Rebecca<\/div>
Rebecca with her daughter Grace<\/span>\u00a0(Image: Rebecca Elizabeth Gaskell\/Cover Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A devastated mum has spoken out about losing her teenage daughter to cancer after being dismissed by a GP for months. Rebecca Elizabeth Gaskell, from Buckinghamshire, never expected such a terrible outcome when her 12-year-old daughter Grace\u2019s fingers began tingling.<\/p>\n

She was dismissed by the GP, who blamed her symptoms on hormonal silent migraines. Grace then started to develop more serious problems and her mother realised that there must be something more sinister at work. \u201cGrace\u2019s first symptoms were tingling in her fingers on her left hand,\u201d Rebecca remembers. \u201cShe had just gone\u00a0back to school<\/a>\u00a0after half term holiday and I honestly thought it was due to writing too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe then started to get a kaleidoscope effect in her left eye. I took her to the GP but they were useless. After that Grace had a burning sensation down her left arm and on one occasion it was so bad we had to call an ambulance. They refused to come out saying that our GP had stated Grace was having hormonal silent migraines. I took Grace to A&E several times which led to nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Rebecca<\/div>\n<\/div>
Rebecca never expected such a terrible outcome when her 12-year-old daughter Grace\u2019s fingers began tingling<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rebecca, an ex-paediatric nurse who now works as a group exercise instructor, started doing her own research. \u201cAfter about two months of no help from the GP I realised it was probably a tumour,\u201d she recalls. \u201cOne Sunday Grace\u2019s symptoms got particularly bad and we called an ambulance again, which thankfully came out.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe ended up having a full seizure and had a CT scan. But they said they couldn\u2019t see a mass despite it being clear to see. Grace was in hospital being treated for everything but a brain tumour for six weeks and the doctors wouldn\u2019t listen to me. After being discharged I emailed all the paediatric neurologists at John Radcliffe Hospital and thankfully one replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked me to bring her in for a 24 hour EEG and video assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n

An EEG (electroencephalogram) measures the electrical activity of the brain. As soon as the test started, the monitor showed that Grace\u2019s brain was in a state of continuous, abnormal brainwave activity. \u201cTwenty four hours later the neurologist asked me what I thought Grace might have,\u201d Rebecca recalls. \u201cI said a brain tumour and he confirmed I was right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt sick to my stomach that I had finally been listened to and so angry that it took so long. Grace was then transferred to Bristol hospital for a biopsy which confirmed an anaplastic astrocytoma grade 3 with GBM grade 4 markers. By the time she was diagnosed the tumour was so big it was inoperable and she was terminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace initially had six weeks of radiotherapy followed by 12 months of chemo. \u201cThe radiotherapy went very well and actually to everyone\u2019s surprise it left the tumour dormant for just over a year,\u201d Rebecca says. \u201cGrace got through her initial treatment very well. She lost her hair and had to miss a lot of school, air cadets and judo but she went as often as she could.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe often felt sick and very tired but she was always happy and positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Rebecca<\/div>\n<\/div>
Rebecca with her daughter Grace<\/span>\u00a0(Image: Rebecca Elizabeth Gaskell\/Cover Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grace died aged just 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing a child is not something you get through,\u201d Rebecca adds. \u201cYou have no choice but to live with it day by day. Sometimes it\u2019s hard to remember life before cancer. It seems like a lifetime away or someone else\u2019s life. Before the diagnosis, life was just simple, fun and every day. We took life for granted and never ever thought anything like this would or could happen to us. Grace had just started at senior school and absolutely loved it.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had made good friends and started street dance classes and life was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family has struggled to come to terms with the tragedy that overwhelmed them. But the memory of Grace has kept them going. \u201cOur daughter was an absolute inspiration\u201d, Rebecca says. \u201cWhen she was diagnosed aged 12 she wrote that she wanted to show others how to live a good life with cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe inspired people all over the world with her positivity. She passed away aged 14 in November 2020 and continues to inspire others every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Determined to raise awareness of brain tumours, Rebecca joined the Angel Mums group, and together they worked on setting up a fundraiser together. The mums, who have all lost children to brain tumours, came together to form a support group.<\/p>\n

They raise funds for the Tessa Jowell Foundation which is committed to funding and supporting the transformation of brain cancer treatment and care in the UK. So far they have raised over \u00a360,000, with a target of \u00a3100,000. The group were one of the winners at the most recent JustGiving Awards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca with her daughter Grace\u00a0(Image: Rebecca Elizabeth Gaskell\/Cover Images) A devastated mum has spoken out about losing her teenage daughter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"colormag-highlighted-post":false,"colormag-featured-post-medium":false,"colormag-featured-post-small":false,"colormag-featured-image":false,"colormag-default-news":false,"colormag-featured-image-large":false},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12938b275280a43554ec0f09b2f55a2756f50e6fd69b93e1e0172b75d6a79900?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":false,"magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Rebecca with her daughter Grace\u00a0(Image: Rebecca Elizabeth Gaskell\/Cover Images) A devastated mum has spoken out about losing her teenage daughter","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Uncategorized"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":207,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":5,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":false,"medium":false,"thumbnail":false},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/?author=1"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12938b275280a43554ec0f09b2f55a2756f50e6fd69b93e1e0172b75d6a79900?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"Uncategorized<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}