Northampton General Hospital: Dad fights for justice after 'lovely boy', aged 4, dies following 'misdiagnosed brain tumour'

“Devastated” parents are calling for justice after their four-year-old son died from a brain tumour which was “discovered too late by Northampton General Hospital”.

The parents of pre-schooler Akhona Moyo are calling for a full investigation into their son's death following apologies from NGH and Delapre Medical Centre.

Akhona, from Far Cotton, died on Friday (November 25) after a brain tumour was discovered during a CT scan at NGH the day before on Thursday (November 24).

However, Akhona's parents say they had been trying to get help for their son since August because had been “vomiting terribly”, “hitting his head” and “crying with his hands over his ears”.

They also contribute their son's death to a misdiagnosis of autism by healthcare professionals.

Paying tribute to his son, dad Howard said: "My son was a lovely boy. He loved swimming, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the slide. He loved to play. He was a lovely soul. Everybody loved AK. He had lots of friends and was always smiling. Butterfly Nursery loved AK. He loved the Baby Shark song, that was his favourite thing."

Timeline

In May 2021, Akhona was first diagnosed with having autism despite his symptoms “fitting the diagnosis of a tumour”.

Howard said: "We stand to be corrected but considering our observations we do not think Akhona was autistic. We then went on to treat autism and we all missed what the poor little child was going through due to the wrong diagnosis.

"His symptoms fitted the diagnosis of a tumour, but they were overridden by the erroneous diagnosis of autism. He gradually lost his ability to talk, and his behaviour changed. Almost certainly due to the development of the tumour in his brain. His headaches must have been severe, no wonder he was distressed. How many other children are at risk with such low diagnostic standards?"

Akhona then became severely ill with vomiting episodes in August this year, which prompted the family to seek help from NGH and Delapre Medical Centre.

Despite several trips to the hospital and the GP, “no treatment was given and no proper investigations were done from the word go on what was causing the vomiting episodes”, Howard said. Instead Akhona's condition was treated as a stomach bug.

On Tuesday, November 22, Akhona's health deteriorated rapidly and the family once again took him to NGH where he was seen but sent home with Omeprazole - a medication for the stomach.

The parents went back to NGH the next day (Wednesday, November 23) requesting that Akhona was put on a drip because he was struggling to eat and drink and was subsequently losing strength and hydration. Their request was rejected.

The next day Howard's “life stopped”.

Howard said: "Thursday morning (November 24) my wife rang me at work saying she has called an ambulance because my son was gasping for air and passing out. When I got back the ambulance was here and my son was on the floor in the kitchen with oxygen to help him to breathe. They took him in again. They rushed to give him a drip. That's the last smile I had from my son.

"He started to not respond, his health was declining. They tried antibiotics but they didn't work so he was taken for a CT scan. That's when my life stopped. That's when everything changed. They told us he had a tumour in his head. They needed to transfer him to a Nottingham hospital. We followed the ambulance.

"The next morning they told me they can't do anything about my son, that it's damaged his brain. I was the one calling them to check my son and now they had the guts to tell me that everything was damaged. It could have been prevented. By the time he left NGH he was almost dead.

"He died a very painful death. I'm upset and angry. When they told me he had a brain tumour, I started to check the behaviour symptoms and it's exactly what my son used to do: vomiting, hitting his head. I think that thing was pressing [on his skull]. Why did they keep on sending us back home saying it's a bug? I need justice. My son shouldn't have died."

Complaint raised against NGH

The family have since filed an official complaint against NGH.

Their complaint letter reads: "Akhona deserved better support, empathy, and care from you all. Our concerns and requests for help were generally dismissed as overanxious parents and the outcome is we have lost our dearly-loved son. What hurts the most is we didn’t just lose a child, we had to watch him through all of his struggles, it's only now that we realise that Akhona was in unbearable pain daily and all we did was give him Calpol due to failed medical investigations."

The parents are also calling for brain scans to be done before any autism diagnosis.

Northampton General Hospital’s Chief Executive Heidi Smoult said: “We offer our sincere condolences to Mr Moyo and his family on the tragic loss of Akhona. We are aware Mr Moyo has concerns about Akhona’s care, we can assure his family we will look into these concerns in an open and transparent way and will involve them in this.”

An Eleanor Cross Healthcare spokeswoman from Delapre Medical Centre added: "We would like to extend our sincere sympathies to the family and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

"A multi-agency review has begun into the the issues raised by the family. With formal enquiries underway, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."