Ballet-loving girl diagnosed with cancer after doctors thought she had ‘growing pains’

Four-year old ballet dancer was told wrongly that she had growing pains. In fact, the four-year-old had actually been diagnosed with cancer.

Charlotte Watson, now aged five from Brighton, was fatigued last July. Soon after, she began experiencing toe pains and lost appetite.

Angela West, her mother took Angela to the doctor for her in September. However, doctors dismissed her symptoms and dismissed them as growing pains. Ms West suggested that the cause of her pain may be due to her ballet lessons. 

Tests two months later revealed Charlotte had stage four neuroblastoma. 

Ms West (a 41-year old hairdresser) said, “When I first found it to be a cancer, I felt the ground fall from under me.

“The treatment was initiated immediately, which is an extremely difficult protocol that can be used by adults.

Charlotte will soon begin another round of immunotherapy. Her family is raising funds to allow her to participate in a vaccine trial to reduce her chance of getting cancer again.

Charlotte Watson (pictured), now aged five from Brighton, East Sussex, began to feel fatigued in July 2020. Shortly thereafter, she started experiencing severe foot pains. Angela West, 41 years old, brought Charlotte to see the doctor in September. However, she claimed doctors told her that it was simply growing pains.

Charlotte began suffering from more symptoms — including back pain — last November and was taken to A&E where an ultrasound and biopsy eventually confirmed she had stage four high risk neuroblastoma. The rare form of cancer affects around 100 children each year in the UK. It develops in nerve cells that were left over from the development of a baby in the womb. This is the most prevalent type in young people under five years old.

Ms West, who also has eight-year old Polly (right), and Charlotte (left), stated that she could feel the ground beneath her feet when they first discovered it to be a tumor. It was a difficult protocol that even adults could not handle. The treatment began immediately.

Charlotte began suffering from more symptoms — including back pain — last November, just months after she was initially taken to the doctor. 

Ms West took her to A&E after her daughter ‘woke up screaming in pain’, prompting medics to take an ultrasound and biopsy. 

Results later showed she had stage four neuroblastoma, which develops from nerve cells left behind from a baby’s development in the womb.

The rare form of cancer is found in children under five years old in around 100 cases in Britain and 800 in America. 

Around half of those diagnosed with stage-four neuroblastoma will live for five years after their diagnosis.

Charlotte started immediate treatment. This included chemotherapy, radiotherapy as well as a stem cell transplant and immunotherapy.

Ms West shared her thoughts on her daughter’s initial symptoms. She said that her daughter fell asleep around 4pm in July 2020. Her pre-school teachers noticed she didn’t eat lunch, which is unusual since she has always been an excellent eater. 

“By September she complained about the pain in her toes and she had to be carried from one end to another of the pier. I thought that she was being lazy.

“She dances ballet a few times per week, so that’s what we first thought.

“By November she was experiencing neck and leg pain. I brought her to the doctor, but her vitals looked good so we assumed it was growth pains. 

Ms West said: “Towards the End of November, she picked me up from preschool. She complained that her back hurt. I was concerned she may have had a UTI.

‘She woke up screaming in pain so we took her to A&E but they said she needed her bloods taken and when we took her back to A&E for this, we essentially never came home.’

Scans revealed that there was a large-risk tumor in her neuroblastoma near her adrenal gland.

Charlotte is currently undergoing treatment and had her ovaries frozen to give her the possibility of having children.

Charlotte was treated with intensive chemotherapy, lasting 80 days. The treatment failed to shrink the tumor. She then received a second, six-week course in another form of chemotherapy. 

After stem cell harvesting, cryotherapy and surgery to remove the tumor, she was able to undergo cryotherapy.

Ms. West said, “She [Charlotte]She does ballet dancing once a week, so initially we put it down as that.She complained of leg and neck pain by November. We took her to the doctor, and her vitals came back normal.

There is a 50% chance that high-risk neuroblastoma will recur. The relapse rate is slashed to just 20% by the Bivalent vaccine trial at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre. The treatment costs £350,000 and is not yet available in Europe. Ms West is also the mother of Polly, an eight-year old girl. She has created a Go Fund Me page to help her raise funds.

Ms West stated that her daughter was later treated with high-dose chemotherapy and stem cells replacement, which left Charlotte very sick. 

She explained that she had spent eight weeks at Royal Marsden. [a specialist cancer hospital]We were all on the edge, ready to take her to intensive care for treatment. She pulled through like a champion!

The next steps are radiotherapy and immunotherapy, both of which will get her to the finish line. It is estimated that the total treatment time for this cancer will take almost 1.5 years. This is her entire fourth year fighting cancer.

High risk neuroblastoma — when the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body — has a 50 per cent chance of reoccurring.

Ms West, who is also mother to eight-year-old Polly, is’ frantically fundraising’ and has set up a Go Fund Me page to support Charlotte take part in a vaccine trial in the US that would cut the risk.

Trials of the Bivalent vaccine, taking place at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, slashes the relapse rate to 20 per cent.

But the treatment costs £350,000 and is not yet available in Europe.  

“We’re always going to the hospital for our appointments, blood tests, and transfusions,” she said.

“It was her fifth year when she returned from the hospital.

“We are going to try immunotherapy. There will be horrible side effects, which I am dreading.

She’s transformed from a typical pre-schooler into a five year-old with medical vocabulary.