Trust your gut feeling.
A girl in a hospital (Photo: ShutterStock)
A young girl was diagnosed with leukemia, after 10 doctors insisted that she had no problem, and did not even agree to do blood tests on her.
Ilona Zaharashki begged to have her 3-year-old daughter Theano's blood tested to rule out "something serious" after she started getting sick very often.
But each time the worried mother was told her daughter was perfectly fine, and that she had a "perfectly normal" reaction to a host of ailments, from viruses to allergic reactions, constipation and even arthritis.
It wasn't until New Year's Eve, months after the girl started showing signs of illness, that they finally agreed to seriously examine Theano.
A day after this, they informed the worried mother that her little daughter had leukemia.
Symptoms of leukemia can include bone pain, fatigue and frequent infections.
Now Zaharsky, from North Narkshire in Scotland, is urging other parents to follow their instincts and not allow medical professionals to dismiss their concerns.
"I just knew something was wrong"
Theano started showing signs of illness in August when she was in kindergarten.
Her parents at first thought she was coming down with the usual range of illnesses and infections that children get when they start mixing with other children.
However, the rapid and frequent onset of Theano's illnesses prompted them to seek medical advice.
Although she relapsed every two weeks from August to October, the family doctors assured the couple that this was normal for a child starting kindergarten.
After a while this answer did not reassure the parents, and during the following months they took their daughter several times to their family doctor and asked for help.
Each time their concerns were rejected, and Theano was diagnosed with minor childhood illnesses such as respiratory, urinary or ear infections.
Some doctors even diagnosed their daughter's illness as being caused by conditions such as constipation, an allergic reaction to antibiotics, a leg injury and even arthritis.
"Every time I went to the doctor, I asked to take blood. I knew something was wrong because her whole personality changed," said the mother, "she wanted hugs all the time, and didn't want any more. Before she got sick, she was a very active child. She had a lot of friends. She also started to have tantrums. I asked to send her to the children's department to check why she was sick all the time, but the family doctor told me that she was normal. He said that if there was no change he would consider referring her in January."
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If they hadn't checked her when they did, she would have had a month left to live.
A girl is connected to devices in intensive care (Photo: ShutterStock)
By mid-November, little Theano could barely walk and by December she was too sick to go to kindergarten.
"She started suffering from stomach pains and constipation and complained about the pain. She cried all day and her leg hurt," she said.
That month her parents took Theano to Wishaw University Hospital in Lanarkshire again, but the doctor simply gave her laxatives and sent the family on their way.
Her condition continued to deteriorate until December 31, when the family took her to the hospital again, waiting 5 hours to see a doctor.
Only then did they agree to do blood tests for their daughter, and informed them that their daughter was "very sick".
Further analysis of the results revealed that Theano had leukemia, with 81 percent of the blood cells in her bone marrow affected.
"The doctor told me that her leukemia probably started three or four months ago, when all the colds and infections started," Zaharsky said.
"The doctors said Theano had a very good chance of survival, but one doctor told me she only had a month or two if I hadn't insisted on getting her checked," the mother told media in Stockland, adding that "I just want to tell other mothers that when they feel something is wrong You should not let go of the doctor."
health
parenthood
child's health
Tags
Leukemia
cancer
