“Your boy’s eyes scare me, there’s something wrong with him.”
When a shop clerk called her baby boy’s eyes “freaky,” the mother was humiliated. However, she has now disclosed that the remark actually saved the child’s life because the baby boy’s fixated gaze was a sign of a brain tumor.
Jenny Murphy, 37, of the Wirral in Merseyside, described how her seven-month-old son Billy had been having difficulty swallowing, which the family’s doctor had attributed to weaning.
But the health visitor suggested getting it checked out right away when the mother brought up the stranger’s comment regarding Billy’s eyes to her.
A growth on the baby’s brain was discovered via a CT scan at the hospital to be a potentially fatal tumor.
After undergoing surgery to remove the tumor and six months of treatment, the infant boy was certified cancer-free and is currently doing well.
But his mother explained how things might have turned out differently if the remark she found so cruel hadn’t been made.
Mum-of-five Jenny claimed that after taking her young son to a toy store as a treat, a store employee confronted her after noticing her child’s fixation on him.
His family had seen a change in his eyes, but they didn’t consider it to be “sinister.”
“[The shop assistant] just stared and screamed out: “,” Jenny recalled to The Mirror “The eyes of your infant are terrifying me! They terrify me “.
“I was stunned and couldn’t believe he’d say something so mean about my baby,” the author said.
Billy’s shop worker had already taken him to the hospital for his other symptoms, but she didn’t realize how serious Billy’s condition was until a health visitor observed his eyes.
Billy’s “sunset eyes,” which can indicate a buildup of fluid on the brain, were described by the health visitor.
Billy was transported to the Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral, where he underwent a CT scan, which showed he had a mass on his brain.
When he underwent an MRI at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, the brain tumor was regrettably discovered.
The tumor was a grade three choroid plexus carcinoma, which is a malignant tumor, according to a biopsy.
Billy underwent surgery to remove the entire tumor, followed by six months of chemotherapy.
I felt numb, Jenny admitted.
We were, in my opinion, shocked. I even requested that we be allowed to take Billy home before his procedure.
Fortunately, Billy bounced back from the chemotherapy, and his most recent four-month scan revealed no cancer.
Jenny added, “We’ve observed he has some concentration issues and occasionally walks with a small gait, which may side affects, so we’ll keep an eye on that.”
However, overall, he has made a spectacular recovery and is doing well. He is obsessed with Peppa Pig and enjoys eating. He is speaking and acting like the youthful little child he ought to be.
Jenny is now supporting the HeadSmart campaign and the National Lottery Award application of The Brain Tumor Charity.
