Baby diagnosed with brain tumor after doctors spot infection under fingernail: “Every parent’s worst nightmare”

Joey had been home for only a week when his mother, Sam Sharp, took him back to hospital. The baby was struggling to feed, losing weight and developing jaundice. He also suffered small spasms while eating.

A midwife and health visitor had been visiting the family daily because his newborn jaundice was not improving. But the cause of his symptoms remained unclear. When doctors examined a tiny infection under one of his fingernails, they found something far more serious.

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Joey had only been home for a week, and the midwife and health visitor were coming to us every day because his newborn jaundice was not improving, he was not feeding well and had started to lose weight. He also had small spasms while eating, but at the time the midwives could not work out exactly what was causing them.

The infection was “so small, almost like a grain of sand under the nail,” Sharp said. An ultrasound led doctors to discover that Joey’s symptoms were caused by a brain tumor.

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So small, almost like a grain of sand under the nail.

Sharp said the family had no idea that, within hours, they would face “every parent’s worst nightmare.” Joey underwent three brain operations and nine rounds of chemotherapy. Two surgeries removed the tumor, while a third removed scar tissue that was worsening his seizures.

The baby suffered up to 30 epileptic seizures a day and needed feeding tubes. Sharp said it was unlikely Joey would have survived without the operation performed on the day doctors diagnosed him.

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We had no idea that, within just a few hours, we would be facing every parent’s worst nightmare.