Mum’s Concern Over Her Son’s “Triangular” Head Ignored By Doctors

A UK mother has claimed that she was ignored by GP’s who said she was “worrying over nothing” when she said there was something terribly wrong with her baby’s triangular head.

Sophie Murray, 22, from Worthing in Sussex, UK said she repeatedly told doctors that her one-year-old son, Finley’s misshapen head was down to a birth defect, but claimed that she was ‘fobbed off’ by GP’s.

Ms Murray explained that her sister, trainee nurse, Nicole Murray, 24, first noticed something ‘weird’ about the shape of Finley’s head after he was born in March 2015.

Ms Murray said that Finley’s head was getting bigger and more triangular as he grows, and everyday, her son would scream in pain. She claims she spent 17 months hounding her GP surgery for answers before self-diagnosing Finley by searching ‘triangle head baby’ online.

“He had a ridge that stuck out running down his forehead and a permanent vein down his nose that looked like a bruise.

“He was always getting viral infections, he wasn’t reaching his milestones and it got to the point where every day he would be clutching his head and screaming from the pain,” she said.

Ms Murray said that she told her GP about it and asked them to give her a referral to a specialist, but she claimed that they kept fobbing her off. “It’s like they were looking at me as a young mum who was worrying about nothing,” she said.

Desperate to find a solution, Ms Murray sought the help of four specialist centres in the UK and emailed them pictures of Finley, and within minutes, she received their replies. She learned that her son was facing brain damage. Weeks later, Finley underwent an operation where surgeons took apart his skull and put it back together. “Within 15 minutes of me sending his pictures the specialist centres I heard back from a surgeon who booked Finley in for an appointment and CT scan a week later, and his surgery a week after that,” she said.

Ms Murray explained that the surgeons cut Finley’s head open from ear-to-ear to open up his skull. “Finley’s brain was bulging at the top from where it had been so squashed. They cut off bits of his skull and put them back together like a jigsaw. All his face bones had to be pushed forward. They said without it, his development would have been permanently delayed,” she said.

The surgeons said that Finley was suffering from Metopic craniosynostosis, which causes the plates of the skull to fuse together in the womb – creating a triangular shape and ridge down the forehead as the baby grows.

They said that if the defect goes unnoticed once the baby reaches 18 months or older, the pressure the defect puts on the brain can cause permanent damage.

Ms Murray claims Finley’s development was delayed as he only started to crawl when he turned one and could not speak at all before his surgery in October last year. “As scary as it was as a mum watching him go in for surgery on his head, it was a relief to know we had a diagnosis and all his pain and the infections were going to stop,” she said.

Now, Finley is recovering and Ms Murray is determined to share what he has been through to raise awareness of his condition. She was also grateful for the quick action of the surgeons who helped her.

“I’m so thankful to the hospital for booking his surgery so quickly. Without the surgery, Finley would have had serious development issues, he would have had facial deformities, he would have been bullied at school. That is the opposite of what you want for your child.

“The surgeons were really lovely and helpful. And Finley is doing amazingly since, he’s even learnt two words, ‘mama’ and ‘pear’. I’m so proud of him,” she said.

She would also like to see more specialist units available to deal with the condition as there are currently only four in the UK.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk