Our toddler's stomach bug turned out to be an incurable brain tumour: Parents agony that after three ops and 13 rounds of chemo their boy, now six, might not survive another year READ MORE: Student, 21, reveals UTI was actually a melon-sized ovarian cancer By Rebecca Whittaker For Mailonline Published: 11:30, 9 July 2024 | Updated: 11:31, 9 July 2024 e-mail View comments A toddler was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour the size of a tennis ball after his parents thought he had a 'stomach bug'. Just ten days after his first birthday, Lucas Garcia-Batalla was diagnosed with a grade 3 anaplastic ependymoma — a fast growing malignant tumour. His diagnosis came as a 'shock' to his parents David Garcia Jurado, 42, and Laura Batalla, 38, from Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire.
They assumed Lucas, who is now six, had a stomach bug just before his first birthday in 2019 when he became lethargic, didn't stop vomiting and lost his appetite. But even after three major brain operations, 13 months of chemotherapy and two months of proton beam therapy, the tumour continues to grow. After a CT scan revealed Lucas had a grade 3 anaplastic ependymoma he was transferred to The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh where he had a 10 hour operation to remove the tumour — which was successful Lucas' parents thought he just had a stomach bug as he was vomiting, was lethargic and had lost his appetite Just ten days after his first birthday, Lucas Garcia-Batalla was diagnosed with.