15 January 2024 , 07:54
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A dad has shared his family's heartache after a routine trip to the dentist led to a devastating diagnosis for their little girl.
George McGovern and Joanne Sergeant, from Runcorn, noticed something was wrong with their daughter Ellie-Mae's tooth, which led to her being diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma.
George said: "It started when I spotted a molar tooth that was much larger than Ellie's other teeth and I thought: 'that's not normal'. It was around this time that Ellie started to get cranky and only wanted her mum."
"We took her to the dentist and they told us she had an adult molar. Over the next week it became wobbly and fell out - there was black underneath it. The dentist told us to take her to the A&E so we went to Warrington Hospital and, after a biopsy on her back, doctors diagnosed her with neuroblastoma, stage four. The news devastated us."
Now just 15 months old, brave Ellie is fighting for her life with cancer cells in her jaw, face, stomach and bones. She's currently being cared for at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where she's battling an infection before she can start chemotherapy.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
Her dad described her as "a shell of her former self", adding: "She was the most bubbly little girl and was such a smiler - unless you were new to her, then she might give you a little cry!"
"She had a lovely Christmas and was even beginning to start walking, now she's got tubes everywhere and she's really poorly. We're in shock and it's turned our worlds upside down. We won't give up on her."
Little Ellie-Mae is being cared for at Alder Hey Children's Hospital (No credit)George and Joanne have felt the full support of their community since they received the devastating news, with George saying: "Everyone's coming together for us, organising raffles and showing their support - our taxi driver isn't even charging to take us to the hospital. We're so grateful and appreciative, and we just want our daughter back and better."
Family friend Lyn Rider even set up a GoFundMe for Ellie-Mae and her family, which you can find HERE.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]