MIRACLE BABY

S'pore girl with 1 in 100 million brain stem tumour survives and thrives against all odds

- Salma Khalik

Given the aggressive cancer tumour located at her brain stem, little E should have died within weeks of her birth. Instead, the girl, who is now two years old, is not just alive but also well and behaving like any other toddler her age.

Doctors at the National University Hospital (NUH) say she is truly a miracle baby.

While her parents do not want her to be identified, E may well be the only child in the world to survive an aggressive congenital cancer in her brain stem. At the very least, she is the first such documented case, said Dr Vincent Nga, who heads neurosurgery at NUH.

It is extremely rare for an infant to be born with a tumour in that highly critical part of the brain. which controls all the body's major functions, such as the ability to move and even to breathe. The odds are one in 100 million.

Her mother's pregnancy was normal, as was her birth in January 2022. But shortly after E was born, doctors knew she had a problem.

She had difficulty swallowing on day one. Then the right side of her face drooped within days of her birth, as though she had suffered a stroke.

Doctors at KK Women's and Children's Hospital where she was born did a scan, which identified a brain tumour. They told her parents the infant would not survive, and suggested they give her the best possible care to reduce her suffering.

Said her mother, Mrs Lee: "It was heartbreaking. When we asked the doctor what can be done, we were told, 'Nothing; mortality is 100 per cent within the year"" Her husband, Mr Lee, added: "They gave up on her. They didn't even give my daughter a chance. It made me very angry." The Lees refused to give up hope on their baby girl, their second child. Instead, they turned to both the private sector and NUH to get a second, and even a third, opinion.