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There’s nothing worse than having your child’s illness dismissed to have it turn out to be something much, much worse.
But that’s exactly what happened to the parents of Skyla Barker.
Skyla, just four years old, was taken to the doctor after her mother became worried that she was pale and lethargic.
But their general practitioner told them that these symptoms were common in patients of Skyla’s age who have tonsillitis.
However, after a few days, her mother was still worried.
Mother Sharon Pettit said, “She has always been running about, an extremely happy child. But it got to the stage where she didn’t move at all. She was lethargic and didn’t want to get up from the sofa and I instantly knew something was wrong.”
Sharon Pettit insisted that Skyla be given blood tests, unable to accept the doctor’s explanation. She was then given bone marrow tests.
When the tests came back, Sharon’s heart dropped. Her daughter had leukemia.
“She is so young. I can’t even describe what went through my mind,” she said.
Now, Skyla has two years of chemotherapy ahead of her.
“After her first month of treatment, her legs went weak and she couldn’t walk,” said Sharon. “For the first six weeks, she had to have chemotherapy one day every week at the hospital. Now she has it every month, but she also has chemotherapy in medicine form at home every day.”
Dr. Sarah Thompson, a pediatrician at the hospital where Skyla is being treated, says, “Skyla has responded well to her initial treatment so we would be quite positive she will have a very good outcome.”
But perhaps if it had been caught earlier, instead of being misdiagnosed, this journey may have been a little easier.
