A family has claimed their six-year-old daughter was misdiagnosed as 'attention seeking' by her GP - when she actually had a brain tumour.
Doctors said Lyla O'Donovan was 'probably a week from death' when she was finally diagnosed with a brain tumour in September 2016 - despite falling ill two years before.
Dad-of-six Paul claims their former GP in Devon, said there was nothing wrong with Lyla and that his wife Kirsty was being 'overprotective'.
Paul, a corporal in the army, claims the doctor told Kirsty she was making the situation worse than it was and even said Lyla was 'attention-seeking' rather than genuinely ill.
Insisting something was wrong, Kirsty, 33, took her to A&E in August 2016 before an MRI scan revealed a brain tumour that has left Lyla with reduced mobility and seizures.
But even after nine operations and more than 30 MRI scans, heartwarming footage shows Lyla's 'remarkable resilience' as she dances with Paul before yet another 'scary' appointment.
The footage means all the more to the family as Lyla was left partially paralysed after her op to remove the tumour - but has bravely battled to regain her mobility.
Lyla first became unwell when the family lived in Paderborn, Germany, but her condition got a lot worse when they moved to Barnstaple, Devon, in 2015 for Paul's work.
Between March 2016 and when she was finally diagnosed with the tumour in September 2016, they visited Caen Medical Centre, each week where Paul claimed their GP would tell them nothing was wrong with Lyla.
Even when Kirsty took Lyla to A&E she claims her daughter was still given the all clear.
Eventually a locum doctor checking on whether they were happy to be sent home flagged up her concerns.
Lyla was then sent to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children for an MRI scan where the tumour was found.
However, during the October 2016 operation to remove it she lost movement in the whole of her left side.
Paul, from Durham, County Durham, said he and Kirsty got into arguments when he started to agree with the GP and admits to now feeling guilty he didn't listen to his wife and daughter.
Because the tumour grew so big, Lyla now has reduced mobility and cognitive ability and suffers from seizures due to pressure in her head.
While she needs a wheelchair to help her get around and doctors don't know how much her brain will develop, she has bounced back from partial paralysis to being able to dance.
Paul said: "My wife kept saying there's something wrong with her. At first they started saying it was an ear infection - that's why she's off balance - and to come back in a week if it didn't leave.
"When we went back they said 'there's nothing wrong with her, you're an overprotective mother, you're making the situation worse than what it is - there's genuinely nothing wrong with her'.
"Then they span it around and started saying Lyla was attention-seeking. And I started believing that. I was like 'well, maybe he's right, he's a doctor - you're meant to listen to the doctors'.
"I kick myself now because I just think for what he was saying to my wife and [how he] made her feel - to be honest I just wanted to throttle him when I first found out.
"Just because they're doctors it doesn't make them perfect. They should know these kinds of symptoms or if they're unsure [then] consult a different doctor - don't just come up with a stupid thing.
"In my eyes it was a stupid thing because he's probably stuck for time. You have five minutes in there with them nowadays, he's probably just tried to come up with something and then panned it off onto my wife.
"They just need educating a little bit more. I genuinely believe they should attend some sort of awareness courses [for] cancers, not just brain tumours.
"To be honest it makes me really angry, it really does frustrate me. There's no hard evidence but if they'd have picked up on some of those signs before and caught it when it was smaller, I hand on heart don't believe she would be having all these problems. "
"So I do blame that GP practice for a sort of misdiagnosis. I think if they were doing the right thing and it got missed then I wouldn't have a leg to stand on with that.
"But because of the way they dealt with it and what they were saying, I do blame them for the way Lyla is.
He said he felt "guilt that he at first didn't listen to his wife's fears.
"These people are in those jobs because they're meant to look after you but realistically they're going to make mistakes as well.
"When we did get the [brain tumour] diagnosed the locum doctor told us Lyla was probably a week away from death.
"If that locum doctor wasn't there, we might never have had Lyla. It's just scary to think how close she was.
"The tumour had grown that big and had been left that long that it had grown over the brain stem and down into the spine. It was huge.
"The doctors couldn't believe that she was still actually walking and still had feeling in her hands and feet and was able to talk because of how big it was."
Caen Medical Centre said: “We were saddened to hear about L’s diagnosis. Our thoughts are with them, at what must be a very difficult time.
"We would urge them to contact us through our complaints system so we can talk through any concerns. We always strive to provide our patients with the best care, and will use any feedback given to improve our services.”
The army corporal recently put a request out for people to send birthday cards to Lyla for her seventh birthday on November 28.
And with the support of charity Brain Tumour Research, Lyla is now inundated with more than 450 birthday cards.
Paul said: "Even if we got one card a day from now until her birthday it would be amazing. She's over the moon [about getting the cards] - she's the happiest I've seen her in years."
Matthew Price, Brain Tumour Research community fundraising manager for the north of England, said: "Lyla is such a courageous little girl and she and her family are in our thoughts as she faces yet more brain surgery. "
"Lyla's story is devastating and reminds us that brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age.
"What's more, they kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just one percent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease. We cannot allow this situation to continue."
