A seven-year-old girl rushed to hospital with a suspected stomach infection stunned doctors when they discovered she had tumour the size of a grapefruit on her ovary.
Ellie-Louise Lewis was rushed to hospital on January 18 by her mother Rachel, 25, after complaining of crippling stomach pains.
Doctors suspected gastroenteritis but quickly realised her swollen stomach was due to juvenile granulosa - a rare form of cancer.
Rachael Lewis rushed her daughter Ellie-Louise (right) to hospital after her stomach swelled and her skin turned grey. She was diagnosed with a rare ovary tumour (see X-ray left)
Ellie-Louise Lewis in hospital after having a three-hour operation to remove an ovary and the tumour
Four days later she underwent a three-hour operation to have the 4.7in (12cm) malignant tumour removed from her ovary.
Mrs Lewis, from Carlton, Nottinghamshire, first took her daughter to the GP who sent them straight to Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre.
The mother-of-two said: 'She was massive, if she wasn't seven, I would have thought she was pregnant.
'She had that grey colour that people have when they look like they're going to die.
'Everyone was shocked. You just don't expect this to happen to your daughter. I thought I was going to lose her - she was really ill.
'We were waiting up in intensive care - I was just panicking. It was the longest three hours of my life.
'She usually does not stop, but she's very quiet at the moment. She's usually the loudest. She used to love swimming but she can't now. She's upset about that.
'She loves singing and dancing and loves One Direction - it does my head in.
'Hopefully nothing will come back, but it's still scary. The main thing is being there for her.'
Ellie-Louise now faces three months of chemotherapy, after having the life-threatening tumour removed
Ellie-Louise's grandfather said the weight of the tumour was affecting her breathing
Most patients with the tumours are adults, but five per cent are in the early stages of puberty or pre-pubescent.
The cancer originates in the granulosa cell in the sex cord - a tube that links to testes in males and ovarian follicles in women.
Ellie-Louise had an ovary removed along with the tumour and will have four sessions of chemotherapy over three months with MRI scans every three months to check the cancer does not return.
Her grandfather Alex Lewis, 48, added: 'When we first saw her in hospital we didn't think she was going to make it.
'The weight of it was stopping her breathing. If I could have taken it off her, I would. I'd have preferred it to be me.
'She looked like she had two footballs in her belly. It was terrifying but we are just so grateful she was diagnosed early.
'She still has to go through chemotherapy and we are hoping to send her to America for specialist treatment but we are trying to stay positive.'
Professor Richard Grundy, who is Ellie-Louise's consultant, said: 'The tumour was life-threatening.
We had to seek international guidance on how best to treat her.
We had to seek international guidance on how best to treat her.
'We had plans to operate but she became increasingly unwell over the weekend.
'It was a large tumour in a small girl. It's a relatively difficult operation and she came through it very well.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2285829/Girl-7-rushed-hospital-stomach-pains-stuns-doctors-discover-tumour-size-GRAPEFRUIT-ovary.html#ixzz2MDM4ZBTW
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