NINE YEAR OLD GIRL'S 'PULLED MUSCLE' TURNS OUT TO BE CANCER
A nine year old girl nearly lost her leg after doctors initially misdiagnosed her bone cancer as a pulled muscle. Brave nine-year-old Hannah Baker was left in agony as a 22cm tumour grew on her left leg, but was told it was just a sports injury after visiting her GP. Two weeks later when the pain got worse, her concerned parents Paul, 36, and Shim, 35, rushed her back to her doctor who recommended an x-ray of the youngster's leg, which revealed the huge tumour on her femur. Mum Shim believes had the tumour not been caught early in April this year, it could have proved fatal. She said: “Hannah had been doing lots of sports and complained that her leg was aching. "She didn’t compete in the school cross country and I noticed as she walked back from watching it she was moving strangely.... SEE HOTSPOT COPY 0121 551 1004 “I picked her up to put her in my lap and she screamed. "The doctor and us thought she had just pulled a muscle and we went away with painkillers. "It was just luck we found it and acted so quickly but we never thought for a moment it could be cancer. "We went back two weeks later and the GP suggested we go for an X-ray to be on the safe side. “Three hours later Hannah and I were told they had found a tumour. In two weeks we had gone from having a healthy little girl to her having cancer. "We were left numb and speechless. "We thought we're going to wake up in a minute from all this but we just had to stay strong and be there for each other." Hannah’s older sister Emily, 11, and the family from Clee St Margaret, Shropshire, were distraught as they awaited to find out how badly the osteosarcoma tumour had grown. After a nervous few weeks (how many weeks?) of chemotherapy Hannah’s treatment was successful but she faced losing the leg altogether.
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