{"id":843814,"date":"2026-08-05T00:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T00:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/843814\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T00:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T00:58:13","slug":"sunshine-coasts-boys-sore-throat-leads-to-leukaemia-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/843814\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine Coast’s boy’s sore throat leads to leukaemia diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sunshine Coast mother says her 10-year-old son is devastated to be spending his next birthday in hospital after a persistent sore throat led to his leukaemia diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Naomi Turner, a Bli Bli photographer and mother of four, said in hindsight her son Cooper’s drop in energy levels was the first sign something was not right.<\/p>\n

“He was so quiet,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Naomi Turner is devastated by her son Cooper’s cancer diagnosis. (Supplied: Turner family\/ Hello Honey Photography)<\/p>\n

“Normally he would run in, throw his bag in the door, grab a snack and run up to the neighbours and play footy with them all afternoon.<\/p>\n

“Whereas we’d come home and he’d just sit at the table.”<\/p>\n

Sore throat worsens<\/p>\n

It started about three weeks ago when Cooper woke up with an “extreme sore throat” and said he did not want to go to school.<\/p>\n

“For any kid, [that’s] quite normal, not out of the blue,” Ms Turner said.<\/p>\n

After a trip to the doctor, he was prescribed antibiotics for a suspected case of tonsillitis.<\/p>\n

When those did not work, and the pain worsened, his mother took him to hospital and then back again to the doctor the following week.<\/p>\n

“It was still severe. He wasn’t eating \u2026 he wasn’t even walking,” Ms Turner said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cooper Turner loves playing sports with his friends. (Supplied: Turner family)<\/p>\n

After more doctor appointments, Cooper was again seen at Sunshine Coast University Hospital’s emergency department on the morning of July 27.<\/p>\n

By 9am the next day, he was undergoing chemotherapy at the Brisbane Children’s Hospital for acute myeloid leukaemia.<\/p>\n

“He was quite critical,” Ms Turner said.<\/p>\n

She said it was a “complete shock” when doctors delivered the news.<\/p>\n

“I went blank at first,” Ms Turner said through tears.<\/p>\n

“Then I just began shaking.”<\/p>\n

Head of Mater Research’s blood cancer research group, Maher Gandhi, said infections were a common symptom of leukaemia.<\/p>\n

“Infections can present in many ways, but a sore throat is one of the commonest ways,” Professor Gandhi said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Maher Gandhi says infections are common symptoms of cancer. (Supplied: Maher Gandhi)<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t want to cause a lot of undue alarm because most common childhood illnesses, like sore throats, are nothing related to leukaemia at all.”<\/p>\n

Symptoms to watch out for<\/p>\n

Professor Gandhi said to look out for recurrent sore throats, if the sore throats persisted for a long time, if they were very severe, and particularly if they were related to other symptoms such as low energy.<\/p>\n

He said children were usually “quite active” and if a child lost interest in a sport or activity they usually enjoyed, or were out of breath easily, it could be an indicator.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cooper Turner had a sore throat that turned out to be cancer. (Supplied: Turner family)<\/p>\n

“Sometimes the child is less interested in things that would normally get them quite excited and that might be friendships, something happening at school, it might be a family activity, and it might be sport or some kind of entertainment that suggests they’re just a bit tired and uninterested,” Professor Gandhi said.<\/p>\n

He also said headaches, bruising easily, bleeding gums, fevers, lumps, joint or bone pain, and nose bleeds could be an issue.<\/p>\n

Six months in hospital<\/p>\n

Now in hospital, Ms Turner said Cooper was low on energy and spent most of his time in bed or undergoing treatment.<\/p>\n

His treatment plan is expected to take six months, depending on how his body reacts to it.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Naomi Turner says it is important to keep seeking medical advice for your children if something does not seem right.\u00a0 (Supplied: Turner family\/ Hello Honey Photography)<\/p>\n

“It is so hard to watch,” Ms Turner said.<\/p>\n

“Just heartbreaking.”<\/p>\n

Seeking medical advice<\/p>\n

Although acute myeloid leukaemia is known to occur in children, Professor Gandhi reiterated cancer in general was “uncommon in children”.<\/p>\n

“This kind of cancer occurs because the machinery of the bone marrow isn’t working so well,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[It] is more likely to occur in older people.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cooper Tuner will be in hospital undergoing treatment for the next six months. (Supplied: Turner family)<\/p>\n

“Most of the symptoms that I’ve talked about are not due to leukaemia. It’s really if the symptoms persist for a long time, then it is worth taking your child to the GP.”<\/p>\n

Ms Turner’s advice for other parents was to proactively seek medical advice.<\/p>\n

“If you feel like something is wrong \u2026 fight for it,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Sunshine Coast mother says her 10-year-old son is devastated to be spending his next birthday in hospital…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,63886,1617,415913,134,415914,409655,11942,184811],"class_list":["post-843814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blood-cancer","tag-cancer","tag-cooper-turner","tag-entertainment","tag-naomi-turner","tag-sore-throat","tag-sunshine-coast","tag-sunshine-coast-university-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}