'Doctors told me lump on my leg was nothing to worry about – now it's been amputated'

A young woman had to have her leg amputated after a reportedly dismissed a small lump as "nothing to worry about" - but it turned out to be .

Mum Naomi Bath, 49, claims a GP said the lump was "nothing" when she took daughter Matilda Peachey, 20, in to have it checked. Matilda then went off travelling to , but during her holiday the lump "grew and grew".

She began to feel unwell so decided to fly back home in March and went to , where the lump was diagnosed as chondroblastic osteosarcoma of the lower leg; a rare type of bone tumour. Matilda, from Herne Bay, Kent, then underwent chemotherapy before having surgery in July to amputate her leg above the knee to stop the cancer from spreading.

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Brave Matilda said of the amputation: “It was at first because it still felt like it was there. But it’s a lot better now. I’ve got used to the crutches. It wasn’t too difficult.” Matilda, who was on a gap year at the time, had dreams of starting a career with autistic children and had already landed a job as a teaching assistant.

She hopes to return to New Zealand when she is cancer-free. Reliving the ordeal, mum-of-seven Naomi said: “I took her to the GP, and they said, ‘Oh, it’s nothing - don’t worry about it’.’

“Off she went, and while she was abroad, it grew and grew. Then she started to lose weight and feel unwell, so she came home. I took her to A&E the next day, and within a couple of days, they said it’s bone cancer. We went to University College London Hospital and they started treatment straight away.

“She's had a few rounds of chemo, and the side effects have been brutal. She would get septic every time with one type of chemotherapy. Another affected her hearing quite badly. We’re waiting to get her some hearing aids.

“One of them gave her something called mucositis, which is when the chemo kills fast-growing cells. You have fast-growing cells to your mouth all the way through your intestines, so it would give her blisters from her mouth to her stomach. It was absolutely horrendous. The nurses said they've never seen anything like it.”

Matilda’s most recent chemotherapy affected her heart. “It's made it quite weak,” her mum explained. “So we're going to see if that recovers, and we’re not sure what happens next.”

Throughout her treatment, the family have been making the long journey to central London to be with Matilda, who has three older siblings and three younger. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for food, travel and lost time working for stepdad Alan, who has been caring for the younger children.

Naomi said: “Things were getting really, really tight. Some of my friends told me to set up a fundraiser, and it’s been so helpful.” Doctors decided the best course of action was to amputate Matilda’s lower leg where the tumour was growing.

She is set to be measured up for her first set of prosthetics in two weeks. Naomi said the pain of watching her daughter lose her leg and go through the gruelling treatment. She said: “It’s devastating. Absolutely horrible, and there's nothing I can do.

“It's out of my hands. I've just got to watch it. Especially when she's been really, really sick - it's absolutely horrendous. It was horrible seeing her lose her leg. It was crazy, but it had to be done. She's got good margins, and the chemotherapy killed quite a lot of it. It’s a 50/50 thing whether it spreads or not in the future.”

Naomi says any other parents going through a similar situation need to make sure they have a lot of support around them. She added: “There are people out there. Because you do feel quite alone.”

They would also like to thank UCLH and visiting nurse Amy, who has “gone out of her way” for Matilda, who lost her dad to pancreatic cancer five years ago. The family have been helped by several charities, including the Teenage Cancer Trust and Young Lives vs Cancer.