We were told our cheeky toddler’s seizure was due to tonsillitis… but weeks later doctors made a shocking discovery

A heartbroken mother has told of her pain after her ‘sassy’ toddler died from a rare brain tumor just a year after suffering an unexpected seizure.

Albie Bayliss-Watts, from Didcot in Oxfordshire, was a happy and otherwise healthy baby.

But in October 2020, when he was just one year old, his parents rushed him to hospital after he suffered convulsions.

Here medics believed he had tonsillitis or epilepsy and referred Albie to neurology, his mothers Lauren and Hayley Bayliss-Watts claimed.

However, just six weeks later, before a follow-up appointment with a consultant, he started vomiting blood.

Scans later showed he had a mass the size of a tennis ball in his brain and he was rushed into surgery.

His cancer was “so aggressive” that his parents were not even told its name. Only that treatment had to start as soon as possible, they said.

But despite intensive chemotherapy, he still developed three inoperable tumors and died in November 2021.

Lauren and Hayley Bayliss-Watts are now urging parents not to ignore any worrying symptoms.

They said Brain tumor research: ‘Albie fought cancer with style and spirit and our memories will forever remind us of how much we were in awe of our little fighter, right to the end.’

They added: ‘During his short life, Albie touched the hearts of so many people and filled our world with nothing but pure joy.’

Approximately 12,000 Britons are diagnosed with a brain tumor in Britain every year, including 500 children.

According to The Brain Tumor Charity, the disease is the deadliest form of cancer in children and adults under 40.

Research offers the only real hope for dramatic improvements in its management and treatment.

More than £700 million is spent on cancer research in Britain every year, while less than 3 percent is spent on brain tumors.

There are two main types, with benign tumors growing more slowly and being less likely to return after treatment.

Cancerous or malignant brain tumors can start in the brain or spread from elsewhere in the body and are probably incurable.

After returning to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital in December 2020, when Albie vomited blood, medics assured Lauren and Hayley Bayliss-Watts that it was likely a germ that had caused the lining of his stomach to bleed, they claimed.

Only after a CT and MRI scan revealed his tumor did he undergo the ten-hour operation.

“The growth caused so much pressure that he had to undergo emergency brain surgery within hours,” they said.

‘Happy and relieved’ the Bayliss-Watts brought Albie home five days after the operation.

“When he was only 18 months old he was so strong and brave, it was unbelievable,” she added.

‘We soon got our cheeky little man back and hoped we were out of the woods, but unfortunately that was not to be.’

On New Year’s Eve, just three weeks later, he vomited blood again.

An emergency scan showed his tumor was already growing back and he began an intensive chemotherapy routine of six-day treatment cycles, followed by 21 days of rest.

The Bayliss-Watts said: ‘The side effects were brutal, but he got stronger with every round.

“He was running around the room, laughing, playing, making everyone laugh and making us so proud. We called him ‘the unstoppable child’.”

However, by July, chemotherapy had damaged his bone marrow, reducing his blood cell count so much that he could no longer continue the regimen.

Instead, he received six weeks of hospital treatment, which left him “a lot sicker,” she added.

Albie returned home in August and appeared to be making a good recovery, giving his mothers hope that he would make a full recovery.

But heartbreakingly, they suffered another blow in October when scans showed the disease had spread to his cerebrospinal fluid – a colorless fluid found in the tissue surrounding the brain – and that there were ‘points of concern’ in his spine .

Despite further treatment, further tests in November also tragically revealed that he had haemorrhage from a new tumor in the cerebellum, at the back and base of the brain.

“There were no further treatment options available and we were completely distraught,” said Lauren and Hayley Bayliss-Watts.

He was transferred to a hospice in Oxford. He died just six days later.

His parents are now urging parents to know which symptoms not to ignore, in light of the sudden deterioration in Albie’s health.

They also have the ‘Albie and beyond’ fundraising group for brain tumor research, raising more than £34,000 to help fund research into a cure.

Earlier this month, Lauren completed a 34km ultra challenge on what would have been her son’s fifth birthday, raising almost £3,200.

She told the Oxford Mail: ‘We should have made his fifth birthday cake and not prepared for more birthdays without him. The pain never ends.

‘No parent should have to experience this, but with only one percent of national cancer research spending historically on brain tumors, it happens far too much.’