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

A heartbroken mum has told of her agony after her ‘cheeky’ toddler died from a rare brain tumour just a year after unexpectedly suffering a seizure. 

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

But in October 2020, at just one year old, his parents rushed him to hospital after suffering convulsions.

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

Just six weeks later, however, before a follow-up appointment with a consultant he began vomiting blood. 

Scans later revealed he had a mass the size of a tennis ball on his brain and he was rushed into emergency surgery. 

His cancer was ‘so aggressive’ his parents were not even told its name. Only that treatment needed to begin as soon as possible, they said.  

Yet despite intensive chemotherapy treatment he developed three further inoperable tumours and passed away in November 2021. 

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

They told Brain Tumour Research: ‘Albie fought cancer with style and spirit and our memories will forever remind us of how in awe we were of our little fighter, right until the very end.’

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

Around 12,000 Brits are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year in the UK, including 500 children.

The disease is the most deadly cancer in kids and adults aged under 40, according to The Brain Tumour Charity. 

Research offers the only real hope of dramatic improvements in their management and treatment. 

Over £700million is spent on cancer research in the UK every year, yet less than 3 per cent is spent on brain tumours. 

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

Cancerous, or malignant, brain tumours can either start in the brain or spread there from elsewhere in the body and are more likely to be incurable.

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

It was only after a CT and MRI scan showed his tumour that he underwent the 10-hour operation.

‘The growth was causing so much pressure that within hours, he was undergoing emergency brain surgery’, they said. 

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

‘At just 18 months old, he was so strong and brave, it was incredible,’ they added. 

‘We soon got our cheeky little man back and hoped we were out of the woods but sadly, it wasn’t to be.’

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

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

The Bayliss-Watts said: ‘The side effects were brutal but he would become stronger with each round.

‘He’d run around the ward, laughing, playing, making everyone smile and making us so proud. We called him ‘the unstoppable child’.’

By July, however, chemotherapy had damaged his bone marrow, reducing the number of blood cells, so much so he could no longer continue the regime.

Instead, he was put on a six-week hospital stay treatment that ‘made him a lot sicker’, they added. 

Albie returned home in August and appeared to be recovering well, giving his mums hope that he’d make a full recovery.

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But, heartbreakingly, they were dealt yet another blow in October, when scans showed the disease had spread to his cerebrospinal fluid — a colourless fluid found in the tissue surrounding the brain — and there were ‘areas of concern’ in his spine.

Despite further treatment, further tests in November also tragically found he had a bleed from a new tumour in the cerebellum, at the back and base of the brain.

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

He was moved into a hospice in Oxford. Just six days later he passed away. 

His parents are now urging parents to know what symptoms not to ignore, in light of how suddenly Albie’s health deteriorated. 

They have also established the ‘Albie and Beyond’ fundraising group for Brain Tumour Research, raising over £34,000 to help fund research for a cure. 

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

She told the Oxford Mail: ‘We should have been getting his fifth birthday cake ready, not preparing to have more birthdays without him. The pain is never ending. 

‘No parent should have to go through this but because historically just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research goes on brain tumours, it is happening far too much.’