Child's traumatic brain tumour tests prompt fundraising campaign

An East Sussex mother has shared her personal experience of how traumatic blood tests and cannulas can be for young children after her son was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Lianne Carter, from Wivelsfield Green, said she learnt of the "horrific news" just before her son, Oscar, turned two in 2023.

The 39-year-old dance teacher said Oscar was on a clinical trial for a special drug to shrink his tumour.

This meant Oscar, now four, has to go to the hospital every four weeks for blood tests to check his health before he can receive his medication.

Carter said Oscar's experience with blood tests had been initially "traumatising" and he would become anxious before the procedure took place.

However, this changed when she discovered a hospital which had ultrasound vein finders.

This equipment helps clinicians to find the vein instantly, which makes inserting cannulas easier and less painful.

Carter said the ultrasound had "reduced our anxiety with blood tests" and "the trauma and stress of multiple attempts to find a vein".

Carter said she had been working with the Children's Surgery Foundation's Beam Campaign to provide 26 paediatric surgical units across the country with an ultrasound vein finder.

The charity said the machines cost £25,000 each.

"We recently did a 12-hour dance-athon at my school, Turning Pointe School of Dance," said Carter.

"We have raised £4,000 so far, and we are hoping more donations will come in."

Caroline Pardy, consultant paediatric surgeon at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and trustee of the Children's Surgery Foundation, said blood tests could be "psychologically traumatising for children".

"When they are awake for the procedure they need to be held still and they don't understand what's going on," she added.

Pardy said if a child was unwell, their "veins could collapse and become difficult to find", making it challenging to insert a cannula.

She said an ultrasound vein finder would allow clinicians to see the vein clearly.

"Repeated failed attempts to locate a vein can damage it," she added.

The NHS has been approached for comment.

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.