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Girl Given Six Rounds of Chemotherapy After Years-Long Misdiagnosis

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust says it is reaching out to the family as they prepare a formal complaint over missed tests and treatment errors.

Overview

  • The family first brought concerns about Faye’s mobility to Bristol Children’s Hospital in March 2019 and received a diagnosis of juvenile dermatomyositis later that year.
  • Faye began treatment in January 2021 and received six cycles of chemotherapy over about five months that her mother says were unnecessary.
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital reclassified Faye’s condition in August 2025 as de novo Emery‑Dreifuss muscular dystrophy type 2, a genetic disorder that causes progressive weakness and can cause life‑threatening heart problems.
  • The family says repeated autoimmune tests were negative, a muscle biopsy indicated a congenital disorder that was overlooked, and disputes about which department would fund further testing delayed genetic screening.
  • Christina Condon says the treatments caused major harm, including viral meningitis and rapid loss of mobility, and the case has prompted a formal complaint and scrutiny of NHS diagnostic processes that could lead to internal reviews.