{"id":410303,"date":"2025-09-09T11:30:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T11:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/410303\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T11:30:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T11:30:27","slug":"toddlers-pain-after-swimming-turned-out-to-be-horrifying-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/410303\/","title":{"rendered":"Toddler’s pain after swimming turned out to be ‘horrifying’ disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deborah is urging parents not to ignore the symptoms she thought were just a pulled muscle<\/p>\n

Neil Shaw<\/strong> Assistant Editor<\/p>\n

07:37, 09 Sep 2025Updated 07:39, 09 Sep 2025<\/p>\n

\"DeborahDeborah with her son, Jonah (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

A mum whose son was left \u201cscreaming in pain\u201d after she took him swimming for the first time is urging parents to be warned, as it was a sign of an ‘horrific’ disease. Deborah Rowe says the signs shouldn\u2019t be ignored, or it might be too late. The mum rushed Jonah, two, to hospital after he started complaining of tummy pain and began walking with a limp.<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old thought he had pulled a muscle when going in the water but was left in tears when doctors revealed the truth. Now, she and her husband, Greg, also 46, have had to relocate from Cornwall to Bristol, leaving their four other kids behind, while the toddler undergoes treatment and surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to take Jonah swimming with the family, as I thought it\u2019d be a nice activity for us all to do together,\u201d said the senior assistant technical officer, from Camborne. \u201cHe seemed to really love it, splashing about with his little armbands on. When we left to go home, he couldn\u2019t wait to go again.<\/p>\n

\"JonahJonah before being diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cBut later that week, he started to act strangely and began hobbling around. I thought he might have pulled a muscle when trying to swish his legs around. The actual reason, though, was horrifying. I urge all parents not to ignore any signs, as it could be a matter of life or death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deborah and Greg thought the minor injury would go away on its own. But the situation only got worse, with Jonah not going to the toilet for four days and waking up every hour in “excruciating” pain. Deborah said: \u201cI took him to the hospital, and they sent him home with Ibuprofen, putting it down to growing pains.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as there were other children with the same symptoms, they suggested he may have a virus. Jonah didn\u2019t have a temperature, though, and he hadn\u2019t eaten. I knew something much worse was going on \u2013 this wasn\u2019t like my little boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JonahJonah in hospital (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

In February 2025, he had a scan of his stomach and pelvis, which revealed lesions. I t turns out he has high-risk stage four neuroblastoma \u2013 cancer of the nerve tissue \u2013 and it\u2019s unclear how much time he has left without treatment.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s recently had surgery, lasting seven hours, to remove part of a tumour that was wrapped around his aorta \u2013 which was a success. Now, he\u2019s on intensive chemotherapy, but still has a long way to go.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the cancer has spread to his skull, thighs and legs, as well as his spine. He\u2019s also lost 90% of his hair. To help with mounting costs, a GoFundMe<\/a> has been started, raising \u00a315,163 out of \u00a328,000 so far.<\/p>\n

\"JonahJonah in hospital during treatment (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

Jonah is struggling with his new normal, which has left Deborah and Greg heartbroken. She hopes to spread awareness for the signs to look out for, especially as the weather gets warmer and pools get busier. Deborah added: \u201cIt\u2019s been absolutely devastating. It\u2019s something I still can\u2019t get my head around now.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything feels so surreal. Sometimes, I go to sleep, and when I wake up, I forget where I am. And then reality hits. It\u2019s impossible to live a normal life, as in the space of a few days, our whole world has been turned upside down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe swimming side of things is only a minor connection to the bigger picture. He had no limp before we took him swimming; so this potentially saved his life. Parents, look out for night sweats, tummy pain and limps.<\/p>\n

\"JonahJonah was left screaming in pain after he went swimming for the first time (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an extremely hard type of cancer to diagnose because it imitates a lot of other childhood viruses and illnesses. I\u2019d do anything to go back to our crazy house, the work stress, all of it. It\u2019s hard for Jonah when people visit and then leave again, as he doesn\u2019t understand why.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s been so brave and manages to put on a smile every day. I hope he can live a relatively normal life after this and that the cancer doesn\u2019t come back. Nobody thought that a little bit of tummy pain and a limp would lead to all of this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d give up everything I\u2019ve got in a heartbeat to keep my children safe and well. And we\u2019re going to cherish every moment with Jonah, as we don\u2019t know what\u2019s around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deborah is urging parents not to ignore the symptoms she thought were just a pulled muscle Neil Shaw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-410303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115174115180792287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}