I was labeled a ‘nervous mom’ by doctors — now my son’s fighting for his life

Mother knows best.

A worried mother was dismissed as a “nervous first-time” parent when she took her sick infant son to the doctor 18 times in one month

Eventually, though, he was found to have a dangerous brain tumor.

Tessa Crane, 29, had serious concerns about her son Oscar’s health when he was about 7 months old and continued to have him evaluated by doctors — even though she was repeatedly turned away.

“Oscar had a dramatic start to life, being born six weeks early by cesarean section, but he was generally a happy baby,” the British mom told South West News Service.

“Sadly, things changed very quickly when he was about 7 months old,” she continued before describing the onset of shocking symptoms. “He became irritable and would cry non-stop. His head was swollen, his eyes were bulging, and he was vomiting.”

Instead of receiving a diagnosis for her son, Tessa was brushed off as “a nervous first-time” mother and prescribed anti-anxiety medication.

But her job as a nursery manager gave her the confidence to recognize that Oscar’s symptoms were a sign of something daunting.

After nearly 20 visits to the doctor in 2018, Tessa still felt very concerned about her son and eventually rushed him to the emergency room.

“I figured either Oscar really didn’t like me and I was doing something very wrong, or there was some medical explanation which would be found,” she told SWNS.

Within 30 minutes of arriving at James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, Oscar received an MRI — and Tessa’s suspicions were confirmed.

Her baby boy had a brain tumor.

Little Oscar was immediately helicoptered to Addenbrooke’s Hospital for emergency surgery.

The first operation lasted 12 hours and removed the brain tumor, but complications forced doctors to induce a coma for two weeks, as excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) continued gathering in his skull.

“Oscar’s surgeon suspected there was a problem with his tubing, but when she went to change it, his head caved in and his skull crumbled in her hand,” Tessa recalled of the horrifying ordeal.

“He had developed meningitis and his whole head was full of infection. He lost his eyesight completely for a while, and he lost feeling in the left-hand side of his body,” she continued.

“He had to be tube-fed and couldn’t move or sit; it was like he had reverted to being a newborn baby again.”

Oscar went on to undergo 10 more surgeries over the next “crazy and chaotic” four months before slowly recovering.

Now 5, Oscar is “exceeding all expectations” with the help of physical and speech therapy, though he has been left with permanent brain damage.

He also lives with autism, global developmental delay and decreased muscle tone known as hypotonia.

His Suffolk mom, though, is focusing on his remarkable recovery.

“Now you wouldn’t know that had been an issue,” Tessa said. “He’s a little chatterbox now – what he says doesn’t make sense, but it’s fantastic to hear him.”

The single mother now warns parents to follow their instincts and advocate for their children’s health when they know something is wrong.

She is one of many who continue to spread awareness and push for more research into pediatric brain tumors, which along with spinal cord tumors are the second most common cancers in children, accounting for nearly one out of four childhood cancers with varying rates of survival, according to the American Cancer Society.

Pediatric brain tumors have been on a steady rise since the late 2000s and are on course to surpass leukemia as the most common cancer in children, according to Columbia University.

Researchers at the New York institution recently began an innovative study using a non-invasive method to treat pediatric brain tumors and hope that “this new approach will improve the currently dismal outlook” of the deadly masses.