The boy said the symptoms of brain cancer are anxiety and too much time on the phone

A teenage footballer is battling a brain tumor after months of being misdiagnosed with mental illness – and told to ‘stop using the phone’. Oscar Fairs, 14, suddenly began suffering from regular panic attacks, severe headaches, voices in his head and heart palpitations.

For eight months, his family were told his symptoms were mental health related and referred him to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Oscar, who plays for West Ham’s U14s, received counselling, but things got worse and mum Natalie, 40, “had enough” and demanded answers.

Oscar was seen by a family doctor who, to Natalie’s shock, said he had a migraine and needed to be “put in a dark room for four days without a phone,” she said. Stunned, Natalie took Oscar home, but five days later she took him to A&E and an MRI finally diagnosed Oscar with a 7cm brain tumour.

Despite being told to prepare for palliative care, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have shrunk the tumor and she is now part of a clinical trial. Natalie, an emotional literacy support nurse from Benfleet, Essex, said: “I think every child up to a certain age should have a mandatory MRI scan to save more lives.

“I think someone is responsible for the eight months before Oscar’s tumor was diagnosed as mental health and migraines. I gave them five or six symptoms in May and they still didn’t do a scan.

“The doctor who finally took him to his facility was speechless when I told him it was eight months before we were finally seen for a brain MRI. They believe the tumor could have been in his head for two years before that.

“I have to be grateful that we have the NHS where I would get chemotherapy and radio, and surgeons and oncologists and pediatric radiologists, but it hurts that it took eight months because they are supposed to be professionals.

“I’m also so grateful to his brother Harry, 20. He was such a good friend and brother to Oscar. They were both absolute superheroes.”

Oscar’s first symptoms began in September 2022 when he complained of a funny feeling in his arm. It was initially dismissed as numbness, but when it started again with heart palpitations, Natalie was concerned.

“The doctor asked Oscar if he was feeling anxious,” she said. “But I pressed him and told him it was because of the symptoms he was showing – not because of anxiety.

“I was told if it happens again, bring him back.”

Weeks later, Oscar had a panic attack while walking up the stairs, and Natalie rushed him back to the hospital. But doctors again dismissed her concerns and put it down to a mental health problem and referred her to CAMHS.

“You can’t tell me, if you look at a child, when a mother tells you that her heart is beating in her chest and she has weakness in her arm that it’s mental health,” Natalie said. Over the next few months, Natalie continued to have Oscar evaluated by doctors and counselors, but the result was the same.

After being told by a GP that Oscar’s severe headaches were due to a migraine, a “stunned” Natalie had enough and went to Southend Hospital. She said: “I took him straight to A&E and told them he was dying.

“The doctor asked Oscar to smile and part of his face didn’t move. I was convinced it was a stroke. I was not aware of brain tumors. He did an MRI and they told us we saved our baby. life.

“I will never forgive myself for telling him to lean on the other side when he had that arm pain. But no one listened to me in the end.”

Oscar had the tumor removed in a 13-hour surgery. He had six more surgeries to remove other cancerous lumps from his head.

Natalie and her husband Russell Fairs, 45, a site manager, were told to prepare Oscar for palliative care. She said: “I was told all three options were palliative care.

“The third option was that he has chemotherapy and radiotherapy to slow or stop the cancer and to have five days of intense radiation to his whole head. If there was any contraction, then they would open a clinical trial for it.”

After being told to have a Christmas to remember, Natalie and Oscar received some incredible news. She said: “A week after January we were told there was a drop so they were going to open a trial and no one with an ependymoma had ever had a trial like this before.

“I burst into tears, running around the house with happiness and asked the oncologist where this would leave us now. They put him on trial and every two weeks he had a pick line inserted into his body and every two weeks he had chemotherapy. it enters his system for four months.

“An MRI showed there had been no significant change since January. So I then had an appointment with the radiation surgeon again and now they are giving him 54 volts of radiation for 30 days.

“We’re now six weeks into this and we’re still fighting.”

Natalie has since been told that if Oscar’s cancerous nodules continue to be active, they may be resistant to radiation. “I have to pass it on to anyone who can help, who specializes in ependymomas, who can give us treatment or surgery,” she said.

She added: “I am desperate to find a cure to give my son a life. If there is anyone out there who can help save my child, please get in touch. My son is priceless.” Dr Karen Noble, director of research, policy and innovation at Brain Tumor Research, said: “There is a chronic lack of therapy and clinical trials available for boys like Oscar.

“There is no one size fits all when it comes to treating brain tumours, and our Center of Excellence in Plymouth continues to research ependymomas and their complexity. It is essential that adequate research funding is put in place so that parents like Natalie and Russell do not feel forced to take their hopes abroad after exhausting what is currently available in the UK.

“We should offer it here. We are grateful to Natalie and her family for helping us raise awareness of brain tumors to help future generations who receive this devastating diagnosis.”

You can support Oscar and his journey here: https://gofund.me/484c0b68