{"id":822490,"date":"2026-08-22T21:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T21:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822490\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T21:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T21:32:20","slug":"baby-1-diagnosed-with-rare-cancer-after-doctors-dismissed-symptoms-as-constipation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822490\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby, 1, diagnosed with rare cancer after doctors dismissed symptoms as constipation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A one-year-old girl was diagnosed with cancer<\/a> after doctors dismissed her symptoms as constipation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Little Florence Wilde was taken to her GP after her stomach began to swell up and she became repeatedly run down and tired.<\/p>\n

But parents Anna Chattaway and Dom Wilde, both 32, were told it was just constipation and prescribed laxatives, which left the tot crying in pain.<\/p>\n

Florence Wilde is pictured in the hospital. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

Florence is seen in the hospital with her father, Dom Wilde. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

Two-year-old Florence Wilde is shown in a photo released on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, in Stourbridge, England. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

When her belly continued to balloon, Anna took Florence back to the GP only to be assured it was constipation again.<\/p>\n

Anna says at one point a doctor even told her, \u201cLet\u2019s address the elephant in the room, we don\u2019t think it\u2019s cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florence was unable to sleep on her own due to being in agony and needed mom Anna to cradle her upright at night to get some rest.<\/p>\n

It was only when the family pushed for a blood test that she was finally diagnosed with neuroblastoma<\/a> in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Florence, now two, has since undergone a grueling operation to remove the 30-centimeter tumor and undergone chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

The tumor weighed two kilograms, while Florence weighed just 13 kilograms, making up nearly 15 percent of her body weight.<\/p>\n

Florence was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer, in November 2024 after doctors repeatedly told her parents she was constipated. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

Anna, a clinical psychologist from Stourbridge, West Mids., said, \u201cShe was diagnosed a month after her first birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a period of six weeks beforehand where she was poorly with one thing or another.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe picked up infections, she had hand foot and mouth, she had antibiotics but remained off for a while.<\/p>\n

Florence has undergone a grueling operation to remove the 30-centimeter tumor and undergone chemotherapy. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

\u201cShe started to get a swollen tummy and for three weeks we were back and forth to the local GP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told she was constipated at the GP \u2014 for three weeks I had to force-feed her laxatives which was horrendous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen her stomach hadn\u2019t gone down, they gave her more laxatives, but it was getting bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wasn\u2019t right and the laxatives weren\u2019t helping so we had to keep pushing the doctors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey struggled to examine her. On one occasion a GP said she\u2019s fine and: \u2018Let\u2019s address the elephant in the room, we don\u2019t think it\u2019s cancer.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe went to the GP again for the final time, and my mom pushed for a blood test.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer bloods were heightened and they referred us to the PAU immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had another doctor who felt her stomach. As soon as he felt her tummy he said he didn\u2019t think it was poo, there were lumps and bumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anna says Florence was reassured her symptoms were constipation on at least six occasions in the three weeks before her diagnosis.<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cWhen the tumor was discovered it was 30 centimeters, which was heartbreaking. She\u2019s only small so that took up quite a lot of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anna Chattaway and Dom Wilde pose with their daughter, Florence. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

Florence underwent surgery at Birmingham Children\u2019s Hospital on November 26, 2024, and started emergency chemotherapy the next day.<\/p>\n

Anna added, \u201cShe had three months of induction chemotherapy to try and shrink the tumor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought the disease was in one place, in her stomach, they assumed it was localized.<\/p>\n

Florence Wilde, now two, is shown in a photo released on Aug. 21, 2026. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until she had further scans in January 2025, that they realized she had metastatic, with the disease in her spine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look back now, how did we think she was constipated because her stomach was massive?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt grew rapidly in a few weeks, that\u2019s why we have so much anger because if someone would have seen her the first time we went to the GP we could\u2019ve caught this sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anna and Dom are seen with Florence in a photo released on Aug. 21, 2026. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

She had up to 95 percent of the tumor removed in March 2025, before beginning her first rounds of high-dose chemo just three weeks later.<\/p>\n

Florence began five cycles of immunotherapy in October 2025 before her parents were eventually told the tumor had stopped progressing in April this year.<\/p>\n

Anna added, \u201cAll throughout we were told she was doing great. Every admission she was full of life throughout it, she was just incredible.<\/p>\n

Florence began five cycles of immunotherapy in October 2025 before her parents were eventually told the tumor had stopped progressing in April this year. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve met families along the way who have been pushed back from GP\u2019s and doctors more than what Florence\u2019s has.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, I do think if she was diagnosed sooner it might have not been that large. We sat in that headspace for many months and it was horrifying. There was a lot of anger there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family is now fundraising over $136,00 to pay for anti-relapse treatment no longer offered by the NHS.<\/p>\n

The family is now fundraising $136,362 to pay for anti-relapse treatment no longer offered by the NHS. Anna Chattaway \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

Anna said, \u201cFlorence has finished the gold standard NHS treatment, after that you can either watch and wait to see if the cancer comes back, or other families chose to do a relapse prevention treatment, but they aren\u2019t NHS protocol.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided we wanted her to have a treatment called DFMO. It came to the UK in 2024 and then it was withdrawn in April, a week before she became eligible to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve decided to now raise the money to fund it ourselves as it costs $136,362.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been doing incredibly, she\u2019s such a happy little girl. Life is good at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neuroblastoma is a rare type of cancer that develops from immature nerve cells in children up to five.<\/p>\n

For high-risk cases, the survival rate can be up to 50 percent for some children, making early diagnosis essential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A one-year-old girl was diagnosed with cancer after doctors dismissed her symptoms as constipation. Little Florence Wilde was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[6729,31264,687,8006,97,252,253],"class_list":["post-822490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-babies","tag-baby","tag-cancer","tag-diseases","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}