A baby boy died aged 14-months-old after developing the worst tumours a neurosurgeon had ever seen.
Dean Parker, 34 and wife Holly, 27, lost their son James on March 6 after intensive brain surgery caused his heart to stop and restart, leaving him in a coma which he never came out of.
Dean hopes that by sharing the heartbroken family’s “nightmare”, other families will know how to spot signs before it is too late, Daily Record reports.
The couple, from Auchterarder in Perthshire, took James to a GP on February 24 after he had started vomiting consistently and were later told he had Medulloblastoma, an aggressive cancer which chemotherapy cannot treat.
MRI scans at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh on February 26 revealed a brain tumour which was pushing on a nerve in James’ head causing him to be sick.
Further scans revealed tumours were sitting on almost every nerve in his brain controlling speech and his ability to walk.
More tumours were discovered towards his spine.
James was taken in for intensive surgery on Wednesday, March 3 where surgeons discovered the true severity of the tumours which covered part of his skull.
As a result, the one-year-old began to bleed uncontrollably during the operation and medics had to work tirelessly to try and save his life.
“I think there were about 27 neurosurgeons and anaesthetists working to save him,” said Dean.
“His heart stopped once during the surgery which lasted about six hours.”
The operation successfully managed to stop the bleeding however Dean and Holly were told there was a possibility James’ organs could fail during the night.
He was placed in an ICU ward where he remained in a coma on a ventilator.
On Friday March 5, a further operation known as a shunt was carried out to insert a drainage tube and relieve some of the pressure in his brain.
However, James tragically died the following day on March 6.
Dean said: “We had to make the decision to take him off the ventilator. He passed away in Holly’s arms.
“It was not the hospital’s fault. One of the neurosurgeons told me that in his 15-year career he had never seen anything like it.
“You could see the fear and shock on their faces. They spent six hours saving his life and I feel there must have come a time where they could have given up but they didn’t.
“They got him to ICU which gave us a few days which we were really grateful for. The palliative care team were also fantastic and we cannot thank them enough.
Dean said: “The Wednesday was a horrible, horrible day.”
A friend Kelly McPhee set up a Go Fund Me page to help with costs of the funeral, which took place on March 15.