Mum's 'nightmare' after son's thirstiness led to devastating diagnosis

A mum recalled her 'nightmare' after her son's dramatic thirstiness led to a devastating diagnosis.

Rachel Dales, 38, from Wallasey, Merseyside, suspected something was wrong with Jack, who was three at the time, when he began losing weight, losing his appetite and was excessively drinking and urinating. Initially, doctors believed they were just symptoms of a habit.

However, Rachel was adamant something was wrong so she took him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a condition known as Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. Classified as a type of cancer, this extremely rare disease only affects around four in a million children in the UK each year.

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After receiving the shocking news, Jack was taken to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital to undergo treatment. Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Rachel said: "When we first went to the doctors, they told us to come back in two weeks. But within 10 days, he had a really bad turn in nursery so I just threw him in the car and took him to A&E which is where the diagnosis process started.

“It was a bit of a nightmare really. I was in such a shock. At the time, the disease he was diagnosed with wasn’t even classed as a cancer. It wasn’t until a month after his diagnosis that it was.

"It doesn’t get a lot of research or a lot of money spent on it because it’s relatively unknown. So I relied heavily on what I could find online and stories from other people."

After a year of chemotherapy and steroid treatment, Jack seemed to have been cleared of the disease. But in February 2018, he relapsed which led to Rachel quitting her job so she could look after him and his younger sister