A 16-year-old girl was told by her GP on ten separate occasions that the pain she was experiencing was simply a sports injury. Melissa Sutton, from Rochdale in Lancashire, was a keen trampoliner when she first visited her GP with pain in her ribs. However, after being sent away and told to rest, the pain continued to increase and she started to experience difficulty breathing. When her mother began to suspect that something was wrong, she returned to the GP but was told that it was a pulled muscle ten times before finally being taken to A&E when the pain became unbearable.

She attended A&E three months after initially visiting her GP with the pain complaints. Following a series of tests, she was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, called Ewing’s sarcoma. Treatment involved her having four of her ribs removed, and she is now undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

“We weren’t listened to”

Miss Sutton’s mother, Alison Brookes, said that the family is very angry at how long it took her daughter’s case to be accurately diagnosed and treated. She said: “For months we knew something was wrong but we weren't listened to. We were just fobbed off on more than 10 occasions.”

The rare illness has resulted in Miss Sutton having to leave school early before completing her GCSEs, but she says she hopes to return to school next year.

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