Mum says ‘trust your instincts’ as tot struggling to walk diagnosed with cancer

A toddler was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer after struggling to walk.

Alex Stopa, two, also suffered frequent headaches and dizziness which doctors initially said would wear off.

But he was eventually given brain scans and diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a rare tumour.

He now faces gruelling chemotherapy after having had 90% of the tumour removed.

His brave mum Kamila, 32, said: "The day Alex was diagnosed was the worst day of my life.
"To see him in this state now is just shocking.

"I knew something was wrong with him but I wasn't sure what it was.

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"I would say to other mum's, don't listen to other people and just trust your instincts.

"Don't listen to people when they say 'your baby fine just give him time'. People kept telling me that but I should have just listened to my instincts from the beginning.

"He's only two and a half years old. Why has this happened to him?"

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Alex, of Cambuslang, west Scotland, was diagnosed in January after months of the bad headaches, dizziness and poor coordination.

It took several GP appointments for doctors to send the youngster for scans.

Kamila added: "He started struggling to walk and became clumsy.

"He was still just 18 months old though so I didn't think there was anything wrong, I just thought that perhaps he was a late developer.

"But, towards the beginning of November his walking became worse, not better.

"It was really, really concerning and I knew that something was wrong.

"In December, the dizziness continued and Alex started to become tired and lethargic."

Now Kamila and her partner Pawel, 28, have both had to leave work in order to care for Alex full-time.

"Pawel has left his work so we can support each other.

"We spend every day in hospital and I don't even think about the life we had before because it makes me upset," the devastated mum said.

"I struggle to think about Alex before this all happened. It's just shocking, why did this happen to him?

"Alex has been the best throughout all of this and has been smiling all the way through.

"Everyone who knows him loves him.

"He's handsome and full of energy and curious about everything, he's just a perfect boy.

"Alex is just two-years-old. No child should go through this but we doing the best we can to make him smile in this hard time.

"He doesn't understand why he can't come back to home, we need to do whatever it takes to make him happy and healthy again."

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