{"id":396241,"date":"2026-04-25T00:25:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/396241\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T00:25:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:25:28","slug":"toddler-diagnosed-with-aggressive-brain-tumor-after-doctors-mistook-her-symptoms-for-tonsillitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/396241\/","title":{"rendered":"Toddler Diagnosed with Aggressive Brain Tumor After Doctors Mistook Her Symptoms for Tonsillitis"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

Nancy Dakin’s brain tumor was initially misdiagnosed as tonsillitis despite worsening symptoms like tremors and vomiting<\/p>\n

After being told surgery was unlikely, specialists successfully removed 95% of the aggressive tumor in two procedures<\/p>\n

Nancy’s family is raising awareness for childhood brain cancer and participating in a charity challenge for Brain Tumour Research<\/p>\n

A toddler was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor after doctors initially believed her symptoms were caused by tonsillitis.<\/p>\n

Nancy Dakin, a 3-year-old from Leicestershire, England, was just 12 months old when she started experiencing persistent vomiting and tremors in September 2023. Her parents, Gemma and Sam Dakin, took her to the doctor, where she was diagnosed with tonsillitis and prescribed antibiotics.<\/p>\n

However, the medications weren’t helping and Nancy’s condition deteriorated in the following weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing made a difference, and she just kept getting worse,\u201d Gemma told Southwest News Service<\/a>. \u201cShe then developed tremors in her arm and became pale and lifeless. She stopped doing all the things she had just learned, like sitting, crawling and trying to walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy Dakin
Credit: swns<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like she was slipping away, and I knew something was seriously wrong,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

At that point, Gemma took Nancy to the emergency room and demanded she be reassessed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like we were being brushed off, but I refused to leave,\u201d she said. \u201cI know my child, and I knew this wasn’t just a sickness bug or dehydration. Watching her get worse while not being listened to was both terrifying and frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

After administering testing, doctors discovered Nancy had a large brain tumor on her left frontal lobe. She was diagnosed with grade 3 ependymoma, an aggressive and fast-growing brain cancer.<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy Dakin in surgery
Credit: swns<\/p>\n

Nancy’s parents were also told that surgery might not be possible due to the size of the tumor. Gemma admitted that when she was told the news, she felt like \u201cthe ground disappeared beneath us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told surgery wouldn’t be possible and that we should prepare for the worst and make her comfortable,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIn that moment, our whole world came crashing down in a way that is impossible to put into words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for From the Editor<\/a>, our free weekly newsletter from PEOPLE’s Editor-in-Chief, Charlotte Triggs.<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy Dakin during chemotherapy
Credit: swns<\/p>\n

After she was transferred to another hospital, specialists determined that Nancy’s tumor actually was operable. She underwent two procedures, removing 95% of the tumor.<\/p>\n

In December 2023, Nancy began chemotherapy, which her mother said was \u201cextremely challenging for her.\u201d She required a feeding tube and even had one of her ovaries removed during treatment. Additionally, she was dealing with severe pain from the medications.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs parents, all you want to do is take their pain away, but we couldn’t, and that was the hardest part,\u201d Gemma told the outlet. \u201cIt was one of the hardest parts of the entire journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy Dakin in the hospital
Credit: swns<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Nancy completed chemotherapy and was declared cancer-free.<\/p>\n

The Dakin family is now sharing her story to raise awareness for brain cancer symptoms in children. In May 2026, the family will be participating in the \u201c200k in May Your Way\u201d challenge with Brain Tumour Research to raise money for the U.K. charity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll be walking, running and indoor cycling to reach the target, and Nancy and [son] Mickey will be joining me whenever they can,\u201d Gemma said. \u201cIt won’t be easy, especially balancing it all while caring for Nancy, but on the tough days, I’ll be thinking about how far she’s come and how research has helped save her life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf sharing our story and doing this challenge helps even one family or contributes in some small way to future breakthroughs, then it will all be worth it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Nancy Dakin’s brain tumor was initially misdiagnosed as tonsillitis despite worsening symptoms like tremors and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[53531,134,204712,204714,111,139,69,204713],"class_list":{"0":"post-396241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-brain-tumor","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-nancy-dakin","11":"tag-nancy39s-family","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-sam-dakin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}