'Doctors dismissed my baby's fixed gaze - then we got devastating diagnosis'

Doctors dismissed a mother's concerns about her baby girl just weeks after she was born only to find out she had a brain tumour.

Molly Wardle-Hampton was just 12 weeks old when her mum, Corrine Wardle, began to notice some odd changes to her daughter's behaviour. A fixed eye gaze, a tilt to one side of her head and patterns of vomiting were among the most noticeable but doctors dismissed these as "common newborn behaviours".

Molly, now three, also began having seizures and would scream whenever she was put down and Corrine, 40, was sure something was wrong when her baby daughter's head began growing rapidly. Worried Molly's head was measuring "off the charts", the mum-of-three took her for tests - where it was revealed she had an ependymoma tumour on her brain.

Corrine, a community based staff nurse, from Flintshire, north Wales, said: "Every time I raised my concerns with doctors and nurses about Molly, they were dismissed as common newborn behaviours. Then we were given the worst news imaginable, Molly had a brain tumour. We've been told it can be cured, but nobody really knows. That's terrifying."

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The tot was diagnosed with a large ependymoma - a rare brain tumour - which covered the entire right side of her brain. She was raced to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, where doctors feared she wouldn't survive the night. But after nine hours of emergency lifesaving brain surgery, the tumour was successfully removed.

"For the first time ever, she laid on her back, looked out of the window and babbled," Corrine said. "I cried, we were told if we'd waited any longer, that could've been her last day alive."

After a long recovery, Molly entered a year-long international SIOP Ependymoma II clinical trial. In January 2023, a clear MRI showed no tumour growth, to the family's delight. "I felt a huge relief when I was told the mass was removed," Corrine said.

But two years on, in January 2025, they learned the cancer had returned, during a routine MRI scan. On February 20, Molly underwent another operation at Alder Hey, where doctors discovered two tumours. Both were successfully removed and she has since had 33 sessions of radiotherapy.

Corinne said: "We were told this treatment would affect the processing part of her brain and that Molly would need support for the rest of her life. It was an impossible decision, to put her through such aggressive treatment on the chance the cancer might come back. We decided to watch and wait."

Molly is now at pre-school and continues to live with the lasting impact of both the cancer and its treatment. She has Global Development Delay, high-frequency hearing loss, wears a hearing aid, and is undergoing speech and language therapy.

She is also being assessed for ASD and ADHD and struggles to maintain attention for long periods. But despite that, Corrine said little Molly keeps fighting.

Corinne said: "We've watched her battle through more in her short life than many adults ever do. She's strong, she's cheeky, and she's full of life. But we now face a lifetime of additional needs and uncertainty."